Investing.com — U.S. stocks slumped again on Friday, with the ongoing Middle East conflict continuing to significantly impact sentiment.
While the Middle East conflict remains the driving theme in markets, our list this week has, aside from oil stocks, tried to also focus on other news events leading to big-name moves.
Here are Investing.com’s stocks of the week:
Key memory stock names such as Sandisk and Micron saw sharp declines after Google unveiled TurboQuant, a new compression algorithm that could reduce memory requirements for AI systems.
Micron is down over 18% in the last week (despite a 1.1% gain as of 13:29 ET on Friday), while Sandisk has dropped over 20% in the same period (SNDK has so far risen 1.5% in today’s session).
However, Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya said in a note that the declines are creating an opportunity for investors. “We continue to believe demand for AI memory remains strong,” he wrote.
Oil stocks once again rallied, as mentioned earlier, amid the war in the Middle East.
Recent comments from U.S. President Donald Trump have suggested the U.S. may be looking for an off-ramp, with an announcement late Thursday that a White House deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face U.S. attacks on energy facilities would be extended until April 6.
However, rejections from Iran and reports that the U.S. may send more ground troops to the Middle East have kept oil prices and stocks climbing.
Exxon is up 6.7% in the last week, while Chevron has gained 5.1%, BP has climbed around 2%, ConocoPhillips is up 6.1% and Occidental Petroleum has surged 9.7%.
Meta Platforms shares are down over 13% during the last 5 days, with the stock having plunged 8% on Thursday, followed by a 4.5% decline so far in Friday’s session.
The move follows Wednesday’s news that a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google negligent in designing social media platforms that are harmful to young people.
VCX surged following its IPO last week, with the rise continuing into the first part of this week. However, the stock has declined after the company was mentioned as a short at Citron Research.
“$VCX is trading at $400+. Its assets are worth $19. SIMPLE MATH,” the short-selling firm stated. “The sponsor was fined by the SEC for paying 200+ influencers to promote their products without disclosure — willfully, for five years.”
Arm shares jumped over 16% in Wednesday’s session on the back of an announcement that it will produce silicon products for the first time in its history. Despite a pullback in the last two sessions, the stock remains around 5.6% higher in the last week.
