Last week’s stock performance was mixed, following investors’ reaction to the Fed’s May meeting minutes, while a handful of mega-cap tech companies created a buzz with their news.
Market Splits
Stocks began trading in a narrow band last week. Still, mega-cap tech names rallied in anticipation of the Q1 corporate report from a key company that makes semiconductors for artificial intelligence (AI). The enthusiasm lifted the Nasdaq to fresh records.
Federal Reserve news mid-week unsettled investors, who reacted to Federal Open Market Committee meeting notes that stated some Fed officials worried over the lack of progress on inflation.1
Technology was the sole winning group for the whole week, with all other Standard & Poor’s 500 industry sectors ending in the red.2
Bucking the Trend?
One of the handful of companies bucking the trend last week was Nvidia.
The semiconductor maker – the fifth largest company in the S&P 500 by market capitalization, thanks to their prominent role in AI – reported that its Q1 sales tripled from a year ago. The company also announced a 10-to-1 stock split. The news pushed its market cap to over $2 trillion.3
The companies mentioned are for informational purposes only. It should not be considered a solicitation for the purchase or sale of the securities.
To some on Wall Street, Nvidia is the bellwether for the AI industry. By one estimate, the entire AI market is nearly $300 billion for this year – more than 3X the market’s size of $95 billion just three years ago. By 2030, that estimate may reach $1.8 trillion.4
Remember that forecasts rely on assumptions and may undergo revisions over time. Financial, economic, political, and regulatory issues may cause the actual results to differ from the expectations expressed in the forecast.
Footnotes and Sources
- The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2024
- Sectorspdrs.com, May 24, 2024
- The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2024
- Statista.com, May 24, 2024
