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5 Stocks That Led the SPY ETF to Log Its Best Week in 2024

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Wall Street surged last week marking strong weekly gains as market watchers raised its expectations for a significant interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve. Last week was the best week of the year for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

For the week, the Nasdaq rose more than 5%. U.S. semiconductor stocks logged a rally last week.The S&P 500 gained 4%, and the Dow increased by 2%. These gains came amid a volatile market, but the rapid recovery coincided with intensifying debate over interest rate policy.

 

Interest Rate Cut Expectations Rise

The market’s upward momentum was aided by increasing anticipation of a half-point interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, which was previously viewed as unlikely. Traders are now assigning a 49% probability to a 50-basis point cut next week, up from just 15% on Sept. 12, 2024.

This shift in expectations was aided by reports from the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal, suggesting the Fed's decision on Sept. 18 will be closely contested. Former New York Fed President Bill Dudley added to the speculation, stating there is a "strong case" for a deeper rate cut.

 

Treasury Yields Fall Amid Rate Cut Debate

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury declined to 3.66% on Sept. 13, 2024 from 3.70% recorded on Sept. 9, 2024. The recent fluctuations in Treasury yields reflect ongoing market uncertainty over whether the Fed will opt for a 0.25% or 0.5% rate cut, as concerns over a labor market weakness and recession risks continue to cause volatility.

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few stocks that helped the S&P 500 and its related exchange traded fund SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY - Free Report) to log the best week of this year.

 

Winning Stocks of the Week

Broadcom (AVGO - Free Report) – Up 20.8% Last Week

The Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is a premier designer, developer and global supplier of a broad range of semiconductor devices with a focus on complex digital and mixed signal complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) based devices and analog III-V based products.

The average earnings surprise of AVGO for the past four quarters is 3.28%.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD - Free Report) – Up 17.1% Last Week

The Zacks Rank #3 Warner Bros. Discovery is a premier global media and entertainment company that combines WarnerMedia Business’s premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery’s leading non-fiction and international entertainment and sports businesses, thus offering audiences a differentiated portfolio of content, brands and franchises across television, film, streaming and gaming.

Although WBD failed to post the positive average earnings surprise for the past four quarters, the media conglomerate’s shares surged on Friday due to a deal with Charter Communications that will bring the Max streaming service to standard cable packages.

Super Micro Computer (SMCI - Free Report) – Up 16.4% Last Week

Super Micro Computer, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and sells energy-efficient, application optimized server solutions based on the x86 architecture. The stock has a Zacks Rank #3.

The average earnings surprise of SMCI for the past four quarters is 0.60%.

Vistra (VST - Free Report) – Up 14.2% Last Week

The Zacks Rank #3 Vistra Energy Corp. is an energy company. It offers electricity and power generation, distribution and transmission solutions. Vistra Energy Corp. is based in Dallas, United States.

Although Vistra couldn’t deliver the positive average earnings surprise for the past four quarters, shares of Vistra Corp. surged on Friday as the nuclear power generator announced a license extension for one of its plants and power market prices soared.

AES Corp (AES - Free Report) – Up 14.2% Last Week

The Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) Arlington, VA-based the AES Corporation, is a global power company. The company’s businesses are spread across four continents in 14 countries. The company has four Strategic Business Units (SBUs) located in the United States and other regions across the globe.

The average earnings surprise of AES for the past four quarters is 19.18%.

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