Luke Kawa12/20/24

US stocks close out the week on a high note

The S&P 500 rose 1.1% while the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 advanced by 0.9% to end a bad week on a strong note.

A subdued reading for November’s core PCE inflation helped alleviate investor worries about rising prices, a concern the Federal Reserve fanned the flames of earlier this week.

Breadth finally returned: for the first time this month, more S&P 500 stocks rose than fell, snapping the streak of 14 consecutive sessions with a negative advance-decline line.

Every S&P 500 sector ETF was positive. Real estate, utilities, tech, and financials led the way. Consumer discretionary was a relative laggard, amid a 3.5% retreat in Tesla. In fact, despite a 3.5% advance from Nvidia, the Magnificent 7’s 0.2% gain was its smallest of the year for a session in which the S&P 500 was up at least 1%.

After a 30% drop from its peak, MicroStrategy rebounded with a massive 11.6% gain.

Avocado seller Mission Produce had its second-best day ever after posting record sales figures and comments from management suggesting the company was well positioned to navigate any potential trade levies that might be instituted by the incoming Trump administration.

Not all stocks managed to finish the week well, however. Starbucks was down 0.9% as strikes threaten to limit its seasonal sales bump.

And Novo Nordisk got slammed, down more than 17% after its new weight-loss drug didn’t live up to the company’s hopes, helping spark a little rally in rival Eli Lilly in the process.

More Markets

See all Markets

markets

Matt Phillips12m

Western Digital beats Wall Street estimates for Q2 sales, EPS

Western Digital posted better-than-expected quarterly sales and EPS figures after the close Thursday, though the shares slipped after hours.

Here’s how the results looked:

Fiscal Q2 revenue was $3.02 billion vs. $2.93 billion consensus analyst expectations, per FactSet.
Adjusted earnings per share of $2.13 vs. the $1.93 analysts predicted.
Fiscal Q3 guidance for adjusted EPS of $2.15 to $2.45 vs. analyst estimates of $1.99.
Guidance for Q3 sales of $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion vs. estimates of $2.98 billion.

Western Digital — and rival Seagate Technology Holdings — were among the market’s best performers last year, rising 282% and 219%, respectively, as data storage became a key bottleneck for hyperscalers.

The shares are romping into 2026 as well, with both stocks up more than 60% in January through the close of trading on Thursday.

Sandisk fiscal Q2 earnings results

Sandisk blows past quarterly earnings expectations, forecasts blockbuster Q3 numbers

It was the best performer in the S&P 500 last year. It’s already doubled in January. And shares are soaring after hours.

Matt Phillips33m

Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks fall as software slump drags down the tech sector

Meta, Microsoft, and Tesla all posted earnings beats after the bell yesterday, but market reaction was mixed on worries of ballooning capex.

Chicago Bears quarterback Dave Krieg shows dejection during a game against the Green Bay Packers on October 6, 1996 in Chicago. Green Bay won the game 37-6.

Southwest Airlines Announces It's Ending Its Open Seating

Southwest logs its biggest gain since 1978, as it says bag fees and seating changes will quadruple profit

Southwest shares closed up 19% on Thursday, their biggest daily gain in nearly half a century.

Max Knoblauch3h

markets

The slow burn in software stocks is erupting into an all-out bonfire

Good results? Doesn’t matter. Good guidance? Doesn’t matter. Spending a ton to augment your business with AI? You’d better believe it doesn’t matter.

This earnings season, investors have decided that AI is enough of a long-term threat to the earnings power of software companies that the past three months or the next 12 are, at best, the calm before the storm. And heaven help management teams that didn’t offer strong results or a positive outlook.

The slow burn in software stocks has erupted into an all-out bonfire on Thursday, fueled by traders finding any excuse to sell Microsoft and ServiceNow after both reported robust quarterly results. The follow-through is weighing on the likes of Atlassian, Workday, Salesforce, Datadog, and Intuit. Put it all together and iShares Expanded Tech Software ETF is poised for its worst day since the Friday following the Rose Garden reciprocal tariff announcements in April 2025.

Here’s how an assortment of software companies have done on the session after reporting earnings:

Are there babies being thrown out with the bathwater here? Maybe. Probably, even!

But it likely won’t inspire too much confidence to learn that the last time the S&P 500 Software & Services industry group was down at least 20% over a 63-session stretch while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF was positive happened to be June 12, 2000.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.

©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC