It was a good week for the stock market heading into Labor Day as August ended in strong fashion and Friday’s jobs report ensured a solid start to September.
Investors probably don’t need to be reminded that September is historically the worst month for stocks—the S&P 500 has fallen an average 1.1% during that month since 1928.
But enough of that. Several stocks had a great week heading into the typically terrible month, and investors will be hoping the momentum can continue.
Nvidia
(ticker: NVDA) stock had another impressive week, climbing 5.4% to 485.09 and reaching a record closing high of $493.55 Thursday. The chip maker’s stock rallied into its hotly anticipated earnings on Aug. 23 but fell 2.3% in the two trading days after.
But normal service resumed last week for the stock, which is now up 232% so far in 2023. Wall Street thinks the shares can keep moving higher into uncharted territory—analysts have an average price target of $645.29, implying a 31% upside to Friday’s closing price, according to FactSet data.
Alongside
Nvidia,
the other members of the so-called ‘Magnificent 7’ also performed well.
Apple
(AAPL) rose 6.1% over the week,
Netflix
(NFLX) jumped 5.7%, and Google’s
Alphabet
(GOOGL) was 4.5% higher.
Meta Platforms
(META) gained 3.8%,
Amazon
(AMZN) climbed 3.6%, while
Tesla
(TSLA) stock rose 2.7%.
Chip stocks in general had a strong week as
Micron Technology
(MU) jumped 10.5% and
Intel Corp
(INTC) rose 10.1%. The best-performing stock in the S&P 500 was disk-drive and flash-memory chip company
Western Digital
(WDC), which rose 16.4%, followed by data storage company
Seagate Technology’s
(STX) 14.4% jump.
It was a bad week for retailers, particularly of the discount variety.
Dollar General
(DG) was the sharpest faller, tumbling 16% after its earnings disappointed and it cut guidance.
Dollar Tree
also fell 3.7%.
Walgreens Boots Alliance
was the second-worst performer, dropping 7.2% as the healthcare giant announced its CEO Rosalind Brewer is stepping down.
Write to Callum Keown at [email protected]
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