Shares of Apple and Tesla surged on Monday after stock splits took effect and attracted more buying from investors, but while Nasdaq ended higher on the last day of August, the sharp rises by two of the best-known names on the boards could not drag the Dow and S&P 500 higher.
But that didn’t stop the two key indexes having their best Augusts for 36 years.
The Dow shed 223.82 points, or 0.8%, to end at 28,430.05. The S&P 500 lost 7.70 points, or 0.2%, to close at 3,500.31, after touching an intraday record of 3,514.77. The Nasdaq rose 79.82 points, 0.7%, to end at a record 11,775.46, after also setting a new intraday all-time high of 11,829.84.
The S&P 500 and Dow clinched their best August return since 1984, while the Nasdaq recorded its strongest August since 2000.
Marketwatch.com said that over the past five months, the Dow’ has risen 29.7%, its biggest 5-month percent gain since July 2009, while the S&P 500 is up 35.4%, its best 5-month run since October 1938.
The Nasdaq outperformed, soaring 52.9%, booking its strongest 5 months since March 2000 and the heights of the tech-net boom that soon became the tech-net wreck.
For the month the S&P was up 7.01%, its biggest advance for August since 1986 when it rose 7.1% that month. The Dow was up 7.6% and Nasdaq gained a huge 9.6%.
They make the 2.27% rise for the ASX 200 look a bit ordinary
That won’t help the ASX which is staring at a near 60 int slide at the opening after mixed night at the end of August. Asian markets rose (but not the ASX which fell at the end to close down 13 points or 0.2%.
European market sold off mildly, but it was an ‘in the red’ end to the month.
Wall Street did OK, but the tone was not very convincing as worries about the stability of the country’s political system emerged following a mad Sunday of tweeting by President Trump.
Apple jumped over 3%, pushing its market value closer to $UUS2.2 trillion and Tesla rallied more than 12%, boosting the electric car maker’s market value past $US440 billion, making it more valuable than profitable giants like Walmart and Johnson & Johnson.
Apple split its stock 4-for-1, while Tesla split its stock 5-for-1, with both companies saying they aimed to make their shares more affordable to individual investors.
Tesla’s stock had surged over 70% since its split was announced on August 11. Apple shares leapt more than 30% since it announced its split on July 30, along with a blowout quarterly report.
