The bulls got what they wanted this week: cooler inflation data and record highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday closed above 40,000 for the first time, capping off a 1.24% advance for the week. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite , meanwhile, closed at all-time highs Wednesday, fueled by cooler-than-expected inflation data released before the bell that day. The indexes had tame, but mixed moves over the final two trading days of the week; both finished Friday slightly below their Wednesday peaks. For the week, the S & P 500 added 1.54% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 2.1%. The market moved into extremely overbought territory during the week, forcing the Club to maintain our discipline. We trimmed our positions shares in Morgan Stanley and Palo Alto Networks on Wednesday and Thursay, respectively, after nice moves higher for both stocks. On the other hand, we bought additional shares of Estee Lauder on Tuesday after seeing some positive signs out of cosmetic retailer’s key China market. Here’s a closer look at what drove the moves in the portfolio’s top five stocks this week. PANW YTD mountain Palo Alto Networks (PANW) year-to-date performance Palo Alto Networks came in No. 1 for weekly gains, jumping 6.9% over the period. The cybersecurity stock had a particularly strong session Wednesday, adding 3.57%, after Morgan Stanley issued another upbeat note on the company ahead of its quarterly earnings report Monday night . The stock received an additional boost Thursday on news of a strengthening partnership with IBM , which would give Palo Alto access to a larger customer base. Palo Alto has been a sizable outperformer since early April, which factored into our trim Thursday. We remain bullish long term on Palo Alto. DHR YTD mountain Danaher (DHR) year-to-date performance Danaher advanced 4.9% in the week to secure a second-place finish. Shares are riding a four-session win streak, hitting a series of 52-week highs including on Friday. The stock is now trading at levels last seen in October 2021. The biggest catalyst this week was the company’s positive presentation Tuesday at a Bank of America health-care conference. CEO Rainer Blair reiterated what was said during a better-than-expected quarterly earnings report in April, with encouraging remarks around inventory destocking in its bioprocessing business. Danaher’s recent surge — up 11% over the past month — demonstrates the benefits of staying invested in a well-run company working its way through its inventory challenges. AVGO YTD mountain Broadcom’s (AVGO) year-to-date stock performance. Broadcom took the No. 3 spot, increasing 4.7% this week. Its strong performance included a record close Wednesday, at $1,436.17 per share. There wasn’t a single catalyst for Broadcom’s advance this week. But artificial intelligence-related announcements from ChatGPT maker OpenAI on Monday and later Google’s I/O developers conference likely fueled the chipmaker’s stock (more on Google in a second). Broadcom has been a huge beneficiary of the AI trade in 2024, with shares up 25% year to date versus the S & P 500’s 11.2% gain. Broadcom has for years co-designed Google’s internal AI chip. GOOGL YTD mountain Alphabet (GOOGL) year-to-date performance Alphabet came in No. 4 for gains as shares popped 4.4% this week. The stock has closed at record highs in three straight sessions, sparked by Alphabet-owned Google’s annual I/O developers conference on Wednesday. Management unveiled a host of new generative AI products at the event, renewing investor confidence in Alphabet’s position in the heated AI arms race despite numerous stumbles since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. Wall Street analysts were upbeat on the updates, and we feel good about what we heard, too . AAPL YTD mountain Apple (AAPL) year-to-date performance Apple rounded out the top five, with shares climbing 3.7% during the period. It’s tough to pin Apple’s performance on a single event. But the tech giant has been on a tear since the company’s quarterly earnings report May 2, up nearly 10%, after management delivered a top and bottom line beat despite concerns over its business in China. The iPhone maker also announced the largest corporate buyback ever, with a whopping $110 billion share repurchase authorization. Investors also have received several signs recently that Apple is taking AI more seriously. The most recent updates from OpenAI and Google could also be boosting sentiment, given previous reports that the iPhone maker may partner with one of the two for its latest iPhone software system. (Jim Cramer’s Charitable Trust is long PANW, MS, EL, DHR, GOOGL, AVGO, AAPL. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust’s portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., May 15, 2024.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
The bulls got what they wanted this week: cooler inflation data and record highs.