The Stock Market Just Finished Its Best Week in Months The market was slightly down on Friday, but it was still a great week.
By Andrew Osterland •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The stock market failed to log a fifth straight day of gains, but finished its best week in months with a small decline.
The Dow and S&P 500 indexes were down 0.02 percent and 0.01 percent respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.21 percent. The Entrepreneur Index™ ended the day down 0.14 percent.
The technology sector finished a quiet week with mixed results. Most stocks had small gains or declines, but Netflix, up 3.98 percent, was the notable exception.
The internet/entertainment giant has been the strongest FANG stock since the group -- and the broader stock market--bottomed the day before Christmas. It is up a staggering 45 percent over that period and is still getting upgrades from Wall Street. One analyst from Raymond James put a strong buy on the stock yesterday with a target of $450 -- a 33 percent jump from here.
The rest of the FANGs aren't doing too badly either. All were down today but Amazon is up 22 percent, Facebook 16 percent and Alphabet Inc. eight percent since Christmas. Chipmaker NVIDIA Corp. had the second biggest gain in the sector today, rising 2.48 percent.
Bed Bath & Beyond's big day yesterday was no flash in the pan. It posted the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™ again today, rising 6.58 percent after jumping nearly 18 percent yesterday.
The specialty retailer reported ho-hum earnings yesterday but provided a better outlook on 2019 than Wall Street was expecting. A huge short position on the stock in the market may be driving the share price higher. Reuters reported that as much as 25 percent of the public float of the company's shares have been sold short. The stock had a horrible 2018 and those short investors may now be taking their profits by buying up shares.
Only six other stocks on the Entrepreneur Index™ had gains of more than one percent today. Under Armour Inc. (2.45 percent), Wynn Resorts, (1.93 percent), Ford Motor Co. (1.73 percent) and chipmaker Analog Devices, (1.64 percent) had the biggest gains.
Shares in oil and gas producer Hess Corp.finally took a breather today, falling 1.31 percent as the price of oil fell 1.69 percent. The shares were up more than 10 percent this week and have surged 42 percent since Christmas Eve as the price of oil has risen by 22 percent.
The biggest decline on the Entrepreneur Index™ today was posted by TripAdvisor Inc. down 2.68 percent. Other notable losses included L Brands, (-1.96 percent), Kinder Morgan (-1.44 percent) and O'Reilly Auto Parts (-1.37 percent).
The Entrepreneur Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.
