All three US stock markets closed the most volatile month in over a year on a positive note, with the Nasdaq outperforming, gaining 3.4% on the back of a surge in the semiconductor sector. It wasn’t enough to reverse the worst monthly return since March 2020.
The most important group of companies in the world has fallen into a correction on supply shortages and valuation concerns, but managed to rally behind NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), which gained 7% and 2%, respectively.
Shares in Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) also gained more than 6% after the company received full FDA approval of its COVID-19 vaccine.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones underperformed in comparison, gaining 1.9% and 1.2%, but reversed some of the 10% and 6% losses suffered in January thus far.
According to Bloomberg, some 81% of the 172 S&P 500 companies reporting so far have met or exceeded expectations.
Spotify bounces back
Shares in Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) gained more than 13% on a bullish analyst rating, reversing losses that were driven by growing boycotts of the platform over popular podcaster Joe Rogan’s vaccination views. The group will now include content warnings and more balanced guests.
US stock market movers
Here’s how other popular US stocks jumped out of the gates to start the week.
- Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) up 11.1%
- Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) up 10.7%
- Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) up 10.6%
- MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) 8.0%
- Airbnb (NASDAQ: ABNB) up 7.8%
- Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) down 3.0%
Back home on the ASX, the S&P/ASX 200 (ASX: XJO) is set to follow US markets higher at the open this morning. For a round-up of the latest news, check out my ASX 200 morning report.
