August turned to be a decent month for U.S. equity market, with all three major indexes posting a gain despite an uncertain global economic environment.
For the month of August, Dow Jones gained 0.63%, the S&P 500 gained 1.98%, and the Nasdaq gained 4.33%. Year-to-date, the Dow Jones is up 7.15%, the S&P 500 is up 11.84%, and the Nasdaq is up 17.73%.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) was amongst the biggest gainers in the month of August. The Cupertino, California-based technology giant also became the biggest ever company in terms of market capitalization in U.S. stock market history. Apple also won a patent infringement case against rival Samsung.
Apple shares hit an all-time high of $680.87 in August. The stock gained 8.92% for the month.
Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) shares continued to slide in August, hitting an all-time low of $18.03 on the final trading day of the month.
On Friday, FB shares plunged to an all-time low after a number of brokerages lowered their price target on the stock. The brokerages said that several lock-up expirations over the next year will weigh on the stock. FB’s first lockup period expired in mid-August, allowing some early investors to sell their shares for the first time since the May 2012 IPO.
FB shares fell 16.81% in the month of August, and are now down 52.47% since the company completed its much-hyped IPO in May 2012.
Facebook was not the only social media stock that suffered in August. Shares of social gaming company Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) and daily deals website Groupon Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) also fell sharply.
ZNGA also saw at least five top executives leave the company in August amid ongoing worries over slowing growth. ZNGA shares dropped more than 5% in August.
GRPN shares hit an all-time low of $4.12 on the last trading day of August. The stock fell more than 37% in August.
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