While the final quarter of 2023 was marked by optimism about what the start of 2024 could bring to both the stock and the crypto market, the first month of the new year has generally been a very mixed bag.
Recent months have brought many dangers and uncertainties to the financial world, including the threat that the ongoing blockade of the Red Sea will have a major impact on supply chains, as well as increasingly frequent comments indicating that interest rate cuts might come in at a slower pace than was originally hoped.
Many of the largest companies included in the Nasdaq 100 index – a stock market index that tracks 100 of the biggest non-financial firms listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange – have been experiencing a prolonged losing streak since at least January 1.
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Perhaps the most notable name among these is Elon Musk’s electric vehicle (EV) maker, Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), which is, at press time, in the midst of its longest losing streak since 2021 and is down as much as 26.23% year-to-date (YTD).
Despite the mixed and often downward trend observable on the stock market, multiple major firms have been offering a very strong performance in 2024 and have provided double-digit returns to investors in January alone.
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA)
For Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), its 2024 strength is merely a continuation of its 2023 performance.
The semiconductor giant has been well-positioned to fully benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom and has received several boosts throughout the previous 12 months, including when it announced a new high-end chip – the H200 – scheduled to launch in the first half of 2024.
The company also appears on track to fully resolve the problems arising from new restrictions on exports to China – though the matter retains a degree of uncertainty as the companies based in the Asian country are reportedly reluctant to settle for compliant and downgraded chips.
Overall, Nvidia’s stock has risen steadily since the start of 2024 and is up 26.70% – up to $610.31 – year-to-date.
Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD)
Having recently doubled its focus on artificial intelligence, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD) became another firm that can number itself among the successful “shovel-sellers” – the major early beneficiaries – of the ongoing technology gold rush.
In addition to that, the company has also been benefiting from a multitude of contracts with other captains of industry as giants like Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) pivoted to its chips due to ever longer wait times for Nvidia’s products.
Ultimately, AMD’s successes are well-reflected on the stock market as the chip maker rose an impressive 27.90% since January 1 and achieved a price per share of $177.25 by the time of publication.
Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)
Despite failing to produce a single chip for the AI industry in the last 12 months, the entertainment giant Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) still managed to impress investors. Overall, the company is up 21.75% since the start of the year, and it stands at $570.42 at press time.
The rise is largely caused by recent figures for its subscriber numbers – reaching record highs in 2023 – along with its plans to raise the price of its tiers turned traders increasingly bullish on the stock.
In fact, the company’s Q4 earnings report was considered strong enough that it saw NFLX gain slightly more than 10% in a single trading day on Wednesday, January 24.
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