Topline
The stock market recovery advanced further Monday, with two of the U.S.’ major indexes amidst their longest winning streaks this year, as a familiar name leads the latest bounce.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
Key Facts
Up 1% by late afternoon, the bellwether S&P 500 comfortably gained for its eighth consecutive trading session, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite’s 1.4% rally also was also its eighth consecutive day in the green.
That is the S&P’s longest winning streak since Oct. 30-Nov. 8, 2023 and the Nasdaq’s longest since Dec. 7-19, 2023.
The S&P registered its highest intraday price since July 18 and the Nasdaq its highest since July 23.
Buoying the rally was a 4% rally from artificial intelligence maven Nvidia as the semiconductor chip designer rose to its highest share price since July 15, and a 1% gain from Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway, the Warren Buffett-run conglomerate which hit its most expensive price ever Monday.
The 30-constituent Dow Jones Industrial Average hit its top level since Aug. 1 after rising 0.6% Monday; the Dow is only amid a five-day winning streak due in large part to its exclusion of Nvidia, whose 4% gain last Monday lifted the Nasdaq and S&P to mild gains as the Dow fell 0.4%.
Surprising Fact
Nvidia surpassed Microsoft as the world’s second-largest company by market capitalization Monday for the first time since June, according to YCharts data. Nvidia stock is up almost 30% over the last three weeks, adding some $700 billion in market value.
Key Background
Monday’s rally extended the stock bounce from multi month lows set earlier in August: The Dow is up 6% from its August 5 bottom, the S&P 8% and the Nasdaq more than 10%. The Dow and S&P are both within about 1% of their all-time closing highs set last month, while the Nasdaq is within 5% of its peak. The recovery comes after the wipeout during the first week of August coinciding with a weaker-than-expected U.S. monthly jobs report and concerns about the potential for unusually aggressive monetary policy from the Bank of Japan.
Tangent
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell a further 1% Monday to its lightest level in four weeks, now almost 80% below its Aug. 5 high, indicating restored confidence in the market.
Further Reading
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