Galenu Mihai
The Schwab Trading Activity Index (STAX), released on Monday, edged up to 54.81 in July from 54.71 in June, as retail investors were net buyers of stocks in the four weeks to July 26, 2024.
STAX is a meter Assessing Charles Schwab’s retail investor stock positions and trading activity (SW) customer account. July’s reading ranked “moderate” compared to historical averages.
It’s been an eventful month for the stock market. Stock market indexes continued to hit new highs in the first half, but gave up almost all of their gains as volatility soared. By industry, Charles Schwab (SCHW) clients were the most buying in Information Technology (XLK) and Consumer Discretionary (XLY), while selling was most pronounced in Financials (XLF), Healthcare (XLV) and Industrials (XLI) .
“U.S. stocks appear to be little changed as the July STAX period ends, but appearances can be deceiving,” said Joe Mazzola, chief trading and derivatives strategist at Charles Schwab. “With geopolitical and technical factors , there were big swings in July.”
Popular brands purchased by Charles Schwab (SCHW) customers during this period include: Nvidia (NVDA), Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG), Broadcom (AVGO), Amazon.com (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL).
Names in net sales included: Tesla (TSLA), AT&T (T), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Boeing (BA).
