Shares of Nasdaq Inc. NDAQ advanced 1.40% to $89.83 Wednesday, on what proved to be an all-around positive trading session for the stock market, with the S&P 500 Index SPX rising 0.61% to 6,263.26 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rising 0.49% to 44,458.30.

One stock that managed to outmaneuver the various headwinds torturing the markets throughout the year, however, is data mining specialist Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR). With shares soaring by 80% during the first six months of 2025, Palantir was the top-performing stock across both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100.

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Stocks closed lower on Wall Street, pulling the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite below the records they set a day earlier. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 0.6%.

Although Alibaba stock looks reasonably priced, Amazon's lower business risk from the U.S.-China tensions gives it the edge as the better long-term investment. The drop in its P/E ratio in recent months makes now a good time to pick up shares.

For mutual funds, investors send checks to the asset manager, which are invested by the portfolio manager at the end of the day. The investors get “units” of the fund at the end-of-day unit price, which is calculated from the “net asset value” of the fund.