- Palantir stock trades up to highest price in two years.
- Stock market indices started Friday on the backfoot.
- Peter Thiel’s venture capital fund sold $48 million worth of PLTR in Q3.
- Analyst Dan Ives says tech stocks are at the beginning of a new rally heading into 2024.
Palantir (PLTR) stock rose above $20.24 – the high from August 1 – on Friday as the artificial intelligence (AI) company attempts to finish off its third straight week of gains. This is the highest level that PLTR stock has traded at since November 2021. PLTR stock progressively rose throughout the session to more than 3%, reaching an intraday high of $20.45.
The broad market traded lower early Friday but has been attempting gains in the afternoon. All three indices – the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the NASDAQ Composite – are slightly ahead.
Palantir stock news
Much of the news surrounding Palantir at the moment stems from hedge funds and family offices filing their 13Fs for the third quarter with the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) this week. PLTR stock is a common holding of many of them.
Most notably, Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel’s Mithril venture capital fund sold $48 million worth of Palantir stock in the third quarter, which ended in September. The shares were acquired about a decade ago.
Coatue Management, run by Philippe Laffont, purchased a new position in Palantir. The hedge fund bought just under 894,000 shares of the AI platform company. This is more notable since Coatue trimmed stakes in nearly all of the Magnificent 7 stocks except Meta Platforms (META).
On Monday, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives chose Palantir stock as one of his top picks for 2024 as he predicted that AI and cloud spending will rise more than 20% next year.
"We believe the new tech bull market has now begun and tech stocks are set up for a strong 2024 as the AI spending tidal wave hits the shores of the broader tech sector."
Ives has reiterated his $25 price target on Palantir stock several times since July, but the analyst has chosen Apple (AAPL) stock as his top pick heading into the new year.
Nasdaq FAQs
What is the Nasdaq?
The Nasdaq is a stock exchange based in the US that started out life as an electronic stock quotation machine. At first, the Nasdaq only provided quotations for over-the-counter (OTC) stocks but later it became an exchange too. By 1991, the Nasdaq had grown to account for 46% of the entire US securities’ market. In 1998, it became the first stock exchange in the US to provide online trading. The Nasdaq also produces several indices, the most comprehensive of which is the Nasdaq Composite representing all 2,500-plus stocks on the Nasdaq, and the Nasdaq 100.
What is the Nasdaq 100?
The Nasdaq 100 is a large-cap index made up of 100 non-financial companies from the Nasdaq stock exchange. Although it only includes a fraction of the thousands of stocks in the Nasdaq, it accounts for over 90% of the movement. The influence of each company on the index is market-cap weighted. The Nasdaq 100 includes companies with a significant focus on technology although it also encompasses companies from other industries and from outside the US. The average annual return of the Nasdaq 100 has been 17.23% since 1986.
How can I trade the Nasdaq 100?
There are a number of ways to trade the Nasdaq 100. Most retail brokers and spread betting platforms offer bets using Contracts for Difference (CFD). For longer-term investors, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) trade like shares that mimic the movement of the index without the investor needing to buy all 100 constituent companies. An example ETF is the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ). Nasdaq 100 futures contracts allow traders to speculate on the future direction of the index. Options provide the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell the Nasdaq 100 at a specific price (strike price) in the future.
What Factors Drive the Nasdaq 100
Many different factors drive the Nasdaq 100 but mainly it is the aggregate performance of the component companies revealed in their quarterly and annual company earnings reports. US and global macroeconomic data also contributes as it impacts on investor sentiment, which if positive drives gains. The level of interest rates, set by the Federal Reserve (Fed), also influences the Nasdaq 100 as it affects the cost of credit, on which many corporations are heavily reliant. As such the level of inflation can be a major driver too as well as other metrics which impact on the decisions of the Fed.
Palantir stock forecast
Palantir has just barely marked a new two-year high on Friday. The stock has risen as high as $20.34 at the time of writing, 10 cents above the August 1 high of $20.24 and its highest value in two years.
There is no telling how far Palantir stock could rise in the present rally. The 161.8% Fibonacci Extension (not pictured) provides a reading of $22.18 though. The 9-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) is strongly leading its 21-day SMA counterpart, as would be expected in a rally of this type.
Support rests nearby at $18, a level that has been used as both resistance and support since the summer.
PLTR daily chart
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