The Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.9% to start the week, buoyed by strong gains among technology stocks. The move signaled a continuing comeback for one of the first quarter’s hardest hit sectors, which suffered as investors took less risk to start the year as the Federal Reserve announced its plan to hike interest rates seven times this year. The Nasdaq was in a bear market at one point during the first quarter. After Monday's gain, it's clawed its way back to be off by just about 10% from its last record.
All three major averages ended the day in the positive because of the tech lift, with the S&P 500 closing up 0.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average tacked on about 100 points. One stock was doing the heavy lifting and injected some real energy into the tech rally, with good reason. |
Twitter posted its best one-day gain since its IPO debut after Elon Musk revealed a surprise 9.2% stake in the social media company.
The Musk investment underscored the potential value in social media stocks and signaled to other investors it was OK to jump into the tech pool. Meta, Apple and Tesla all posted sizable gains.
"Again, because tech really took it on the chin in the first quarter, it ends up being sort of a relief rally for tech at this point as well as for the other growth-oriented sectors," said Sam Stovall, CFRA chief investment strategist.
The market gains came even after oil rose back above $100 a barrel and the 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields – a major portion of the yield curve - inverted again, adding to growing investor fears of a recession. |
