My weekly Commentary

Year to Date Performers

At this time of the year, it is always a good time to reflect on the performance of the US market.

With 19 days left in 2024 the $.SPX(.SPX)$ is up 27.6 YTD while the NASDAQ is up 33.5% with later breaching 20000 this morning closing at a record high of 20035.

The five best performing stocks in the S&P 500 are $Palantir Technologies Inc.(PLTR)$ (+322%), $Vistra Energy Corp.(VST)$ (+279%), $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$ (+181%), $Axon Enterprise, Inc.(AXON)$ (+148%) and $GE Vernova Inc.(GEV)$ (+140). Another measure is to look at the stocks that are up more than 200% from their 52-week low. This year four stocks fall into this universe – $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$ , $Palantir Technologies Inc.(PLTR)$ , $Tesla Motors(TSLA)$ and Vistra. Tesla was up nearly 6% overnight and 19% in the last five days. It closed this morning at US$424.77 having been US$251.44 the day before US Election – a gain of 69%.

Alphabet is also having a good week and is up 11.7% in the past 5 days after showcasing its new quantum computing chip Willow. Will quantum computing be the AI like driver in 2025, time will tell. We asked Tiger GPT what are the leading quantum computing stocks and it listed the following - IBM Quantum, Google Quantum AI, Microsoft Quantum, Rigetti Computing, IonQ and D-Wave Systems.

Meanwhile the S&P 500 components that have underperformed the most are Cooper is down 74% YTD followed by Walgreens Boots Alliance down 62%.

One week until another Interest Rate Cut

While the RBA left rates unchanged earlier this week the US Federal Reserve’s rate decision next Thursday morning (AEDT) is showing a 99% probability of a 25-bps cut with a two further cuts in March and June probable next year, down from 4 prior to the election. The Fed Chair Jerome Powell will stay on under Trump’s administration but may be replaced in 2026.

ends

About Greg Boland Greg Boland is the Chief Strategy Officer for Tiger Brokers. His more than 35 years of specialist experience in capital markets includes exchange management, investment advisory management, surveillance and risk and compliance, operations, and governance, and he is an authority in trading systems and methodologies (including online), exchange-traded equities and derivatives, equity options, index futures and options, and financial futures.