Markets
Luke Kawa

US stocks enjoy strong finish to quiet week


The S&P 500 enjoyed its best session of the week, rising 0.7% to eke out a tiny weekly gain. This was the smallest weekly change for the benchmark stock index in more than three years. The small advance pushes the streak of positive weeks to five, tying the longest so far this year.

However, the Nasdaq 100 Index did close at a record high thanks to strong performances from many of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” stocks. The tech-heavy gauge has risen at least 1% for the third straight week for the first time in 2024.

SPDR S&P 500 Trust, the ETF that tracks the S&P 500 market-cap index, outperformed Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, which tracks its equal-weighted counterpart, in every session this week by 1.3 percentage points in total. That streak — and amount of outperformance — are the largest since January, and speak to the dominant role the biggest stocks have in driving overall returns.

Communication services, consumer discretionary, and utilities sector ETFs rose more than 1% on the day; real estate and healthcare lagged.

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SpaceX gets a wave of bullish ratings from Wall Street analysts

SpaceX received more than a dozen positive analyst calls on Tuesday — including from major Wall Street banks — as they initiate coverage on Elon Musk’s space and AI company.

SpaceX went public on June 12 at a $2.2 trillion valuation, the largest debut in history. While the company hasn’t yet posted a profit, it seems to have convinced Wall Street that it will get there and grow its valuation on the way.

Of the at least 17 analysts that gave a rating on Tuesday, all but one gave it a “buy” or “outperform” rating. MoffettNathanson was "neutral."

The ratings come as SpaceX joined the Nasdaq 100 index, a benchmark tech-heavy basket of companies that underpins millions of portfolios. The inclusion adds built-in demand for the stock from index funds and ETFs.

Still, SpaceX fell more than 5% on Tuesday amid a broader sell-off, and is currently effectively flat from its opening price of $150 a share.

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