#股票交易分享挑战 U.S. stocks hit new highs, storage stocks plunge, and market style undergoes a complete shift
In the early hours of August 8, the major nonfarm payrolls night arrived, and the U.S. stock market saw an extremely divergent performance.
Overall, all three major U.S. stock indexes strengthened, with the S&P 500 successfully setting a new record closing high, while the Nasdaq and Dow also surged. This week, all three indexes posted their strongest weekly gains since April. However, a clear style shift was evident beneath the surface: the broader market hit new highs and most tech stocks rose, while storage stocks alone plunged across the board, creating a stark contrast between winners and losers.
I. U.S. stocks celebrate across the board, with indexes and sectors flourishing
At the close:
✅ The S&P 500 rose 0.62%, setting a new record closing high
✅ The Nasdaq Composite surged 1.3%
✅ The Dow Jones rose 0.28%
All three major indexes posted explosive gains this week: the Dow rose 2.96%, the Nasdaq gained 5.19%, and the S&P 500 advanced 3.58%, all marking their biggest weekly gains since mid-April. Most large-cap tech stocks closed higher, with Nvidia and Tesla rising more than 2%, while Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Meta edged up.
Strong individual stocks surged across the board:
✅ SpaceX soared more than 15%: the large-scale lock-up expiration did not trigger selling pressure, and funds continued to favor its long-term growth prospects
✅ Gold stocks surged across the board: Coeur Mining rose more than 11%, while Gold Fields and Harmony Gold gained more than 9%, with the entire sector strengthening
✅ Optical communications stocks surged: Coherent rose more than 13%, while Applied Optoelectronics, Credo, Lumentum, and others all rallied sharply
✅ A batch of earnings winners emerged: Atlassian soared more than 35%, Airbnb jumped more than 17%, and Cloudflare rose more than 5% to a new high
II. The biggest divergence: storage stocks plunge against the trend
Against the backdrop of all the major indexes hitting new highs, the previously hot memory chip sector suddenly weakened across the board, becoming the market’s only major casualty.
The sector’s overnight leaders broadly fell:
❌ Seagate Technology: down more than 4%
❌ Western Digital, SanDisk, and SK Hynix ADR: down more than 3%
❌ Micron Technology: edged down 0.44%
The core trigger for the sector’s weakness was the concentrated target-price cuts by multiple institutions, which clearly pressured sentiment. Jefferies sharply cut SanDisk’s target price from $3,000 to $1,750, a massive reduction; Citi also lowered its expectations, cutting SanDisk’s target price from $2,500 to $2,100. Under the dual impact of cooling institutional expectations and gains being exhausted earlier, the storage sector entered a period of valuation digestion.
III. Nonfarm payrolls weaken more than expected, sharply cooling expectations for a Fed rate hike
The biggest variable on this nonfarm payrolls night was the sharp weakening in employment data.
U.S. nonfarm payrolls unexpectedly contracted in July, directly weakening market bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike in September.
The latest interest-rate futures data showed that the probability of a September rate hike fell sharply to 44%, from 67% a week ago and 55% the previous day. Meanwhile, expectations for cooling inflation also increased.
Bloomberg economists forecast that July core CPI, due next week, could fall to a five-year low. With inflationary pressures easing further, the grounds for hawkish Fed rate hikes are continuing to weaken, and rates will most likely remain unchanged in September. Combined with rising expectations for a U.S.-Iran peace deal, cooling oil prices are further easing global inflation concerns and providing a looser environment for U.S. stocks to strengthen.
IV. An exceptionally strong earnings season supports the U.S. stock rally
In addition to favorable monetary-policy expectations, a blockbuster earnings season is the core support behind the latest run of record highs in U.S. stocks. So far, 436 S&P 500 companies have reported results, with 85.1% beating earnings expectations, far above the historical average of 68% since 1994. Exceptionally strong earnings data have effectively dispelled market concerns about AI’s high investment and resource consumption, while risk appetite has continued to rise.
Several leaders beat expectations on both results and guidance: ✅ Atlassian: Revenue, EPS, and data-center revenue all exceeded expectations, while next quarter’s guidance was raised again, sending the stock up 35%
✅ Airbnb: Bookings, revenue, and profit margins were all impressive, and the company raised its full-year revenue and profit-margin guidance
✅ Cloudflare: Results exceeded expectations and full-year outlook was raised, sending the stock to a new record high
V. The market has now entered a new stage: cooling inflation, fading rate-hike expectations, and booming corporate earnings are converging to support continued record highs in U.S. stocks. However, market style has quietly shifted: the high-flying storage sector is seeing institutional repositioning and valuation digestion, while tech sub-sectors with strong earnings visibility and high momentum, along with gold, optical communications, and consumer internet stocks, continue to strengthen. $CRDO
