Weekly Market Insights: AI Rules Big Week for Tech Stocks

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

^{Source: YCharts.com, May 25, 2024. Weekly performance is measured from Monday, May 20, to Friday, May 24.
TR = total return for the index, which includes any dividends as well as any other cash distributions during the period.
Treasury note yield is expressed in basis points.}

Footnotes and Sources

^{1. The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2024}

^{2. Sectorspdrs.com, May 24, 2024}

^{3. The Wall Street Journal, May 22, 2024}

^{4. Statista.com, May 24, 2024}

^{5. IRS.gov, January 24, 2023}

^{6. Ideas.ted.com, January 24, 2023}