U.S. equities steadied on Friday, clawing back a slice of a punishing week as Treasury yields stopped climbing and risk appetite returned to the most beaten-up corners of the tape.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) rallied past $77,000, up more than 20% for the week and on pace for its best weekly gain since 2023.
The S&P 500 was up 0.6% by midday, on track to snap a three-session slide that had knocked the index down more than 1% on the week.
The macro backdrop was firmer than expected.
S&P Global’s flash composite PMI jumped to 56.0 in August from 54.5, the strongest reading in 52 months, with services surging to 56.8 versus 54.0 expected.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average outperformed, climbing 423 points, or 0.8%, to 53,182.17. The Nasdaq 100 lagged, inching up just 0.1% to 29,251.81 as chip stocks stayed under pressure.
The small-cap Russell 2000 rose 0.7% to 3,011.99, extending a year-to-date gain of more than 21%.
Gold — tracked by the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE:GLD) — jumped 2.1% to $4,609.70 an ounce, a three-month high, as the dollar index headed for a weekly loss of nearly 1%.
Friday’s Performance In Major US Indices
| Index | Last | % Change | MTD | YTD |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 7,684.21 | +0.6% | +2.5% | +12.2% |
| Dow Jones | 53,182.17 | +0.8% | +1.9% | +10.6% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 29,251.81 | +0.1% | +0.9% | +15.8% |
| Russell 2000 | 3,011.99 | +0.7% | +1.8% | +21.4% |
According to the Benzinga Pro platform:
- The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:VOO) gained 0.5%.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA) rose 0.7%.
- The Invesco QQQ Trust (NASDAQ:QQQ) edged up 0.4%.
- The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE:IWM) climbed 0.7%.
Miners And Crypto Desks Lead, Utilities Get Left Behind
The Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLB) was far and away the best performer, up 2.3% as metals prices ripped higher.
The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV) followed with a 1.6% gain and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY) added 1.1%.
At the other end, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU) slid 1.4% in a broad unwind of the power-and-data-center trade, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE) and the Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE) were both essentially flat.
The Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) managed just 0.1%.
Industry-Level Moves Told the Same Story
The SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (NYSE:XME) surged 3.5%, the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX) rose 2.7% and the Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF (NYSE:PBW) gained 2.0%.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH) was the notable laggard, down 0.8%, and the Alerian MLP ETF (NYSE:AMLP) fell 0.5%.
Robinhood Markets Inc. (NASDAQ:HOOD) was the top gainer in the Russell 1000, rocketing 11.8% after Trump publicly urged lawmakers to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, and after Goldman Sachs lifted its price target on the broker to $123.
The same legislative catalyst powered Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), up 8.4% as bill proponents flagged optimism ahead of a Sept. 15 Senate procedural vote and roughly $2.7 billion of crypto short positions were liquidated over 24 hours – the largest such flush on record.
Strategy Inc. (NASDAQ:MSTR) rode the same wave 6.4% higher.
Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) jumped 11.5% in a third straight whipsaw session, still repricing Wednesday’s 177% moonshot on the first successful Phase 3 readout for an mRNA cancer vaccine, developed with Merck in melanoma, and after a 27% drop on Thursday.
MP Materials Corp (NYSE:MP) climbed 8.1%, riding the broader rare-earth and metals bid that also lifted Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) 6.2% and Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX) 6.2%.
Virtu Financial Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) rounded out the leaderboard with an 8.1% gain.
On the Downside…
Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL) was the worst performer in the Russell 1000, sliding 6.5%, with the drop consistent with profit-taking after a multi-week run on custom AI-silicon wins.
Peers followed: Arm Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:ARM) fell 2.5% and Intel Corp. (NASDAQ:INTC) lost 2.1%.
Ubiquiti Inc. (NYSE:UI) dropped 5.0% in a textbook sell-the-news reaction to its fiscal fourth-quarter print before the open. The networking firm posted EPS of $4.73 against a $4.48 consensus on revenue of $937.3 million, up 23.5% year-over-year and 18.9% sequentially – a clean beat that still fell short of a stock priced for perfection after a vertical run.
The AI-infrastructure unwind hit the neocloud names the hardest.
TeraWulf Inc. (NASDAQ:WULF) fell 4.7% and Applied Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:APLD) lost 4.6%, both on no fresh company news. Neither appeared on the earnings calendar and neither drew an analyst action Friday; the moves reflect high-beta bitcoin-miner-turned-GPU-host positioning being cut as data-center enthusiasm cools, with TeraWulf carrying a beta above 4 and Applied Digital above 5.
SOLV Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:MWH) slipped 4.2%.
The solar engineering and construction firm reported no news Friday, but a 10% holder filed to sell up to 1.33 million Class A shares worth roughly $36.9 million with trades expected from around Aug. 19 – supply that lands into a session where utilities and power-infrastructure names were the market’s weakest link.
Quanta Services Inc. (NYSE:PWR) fell 3.8% and Edison International (NYSE:EIX) dropped 3.7% alongside it.
Elsewhere in retail, Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) rallied 4.9% after Thursday’s post-close beat, delivering EPS of $2.66 against $1.94 expected. Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) fell another 0.7% and is down roughly 10% on the week after its rare quarterly miss.
Friday’s Russell 1000 Top Gainers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| Robinhood Markets, Inc. | +11.83% |
| Moderna, Inc. | +11.47% |
| Coinbase Global, Inc. | +8.42% |
| Virtu Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIRT) | +8.10% |
| MP Materials Corp. | +8.10% |
Friday’s Russell 1000 Top Losers
| Name | % change |
|---|---|
| Marvell Technology, Inc. | -6.51% |
| Ubiquiti Inc. | -5.03% |
| TeraWulf Inc. | -4.72% |
| Applied Digital Corporation | -4.55% |
| SOLV Energy, Inc. | -4.22% |
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