Benzinga examined the prospects for many investors’ favorite stocks over the last week — here’s a look at some of our top stories.

U.S. stocks ended the week with heightened volatility as investors grappled with shifting Federal Reserve expectations, persistent inflation concerns, and uneven economic signals. Major indexes including the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite moved lower over the week after an initially steady start, as stronger-than-expected inflation readings and hawkish Fed commentary under new leadership reinforced fears that interest rates may remain elevated longer than previously expected.

Technology stocks, which had been the primary driver of gains earlier in the year, came under renewed pressure as rising Treasury yields weighed on valuations and prompted a rotation out of high-growth sectors. Semiconductor and software names saw the most pronounced swings, contributing to broader market softness as investors questioned whether AI-driven earnings momentum could continue to offset tighter financial conditions.

Bond markets played a key role in shaping sentiment, with yields trending higher as expectations for near-term rate cuts faded and the possibility of additional Fed tightening came back into focus. Despite pockets of resilience in select industrial and consumer names, the overall tone remained cautious, with investors increasingly focused on incoming inflation data and central bank guidance. The week underscored a fragile balance between still-solid economic growth and tightening financial conditions, leaving markets sensitive to any new macro or policy surprises.

Benzinga provides daily reports on the stocks most popular with investors. Here are a few of this past week’s most bullish and bearish posts that are worth another look.

The Bulls

"SanDisk Stock Beats Bitcoin’s 9-Year Rally In Just 14 Months," by Piero Cingari, reports that SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ:SNDK) achieved a staggering 5,636% gain in just 14 months following its 2025 spinoff from Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC), surpassing the roughly 5,572% return generated by Bitcoin over the past nine years, as investors poured into memory-chip and storage stocks amid a severe NAND flash supply shortage, booming AI data-center demand and a series of long-term supply agreements that have locked in tens of billions of dollars of future revenue, fueling one of the most dramatic rallies of the AI era.

"Pentagon Bets $725M On Energy Fuels — 5 Rare Earth Stocks To Watch," by Erica Kollmann, reports that Energy Fuels Inc. (NYSE:UUUU) surged after the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Strategic Capital announced a $725 million conditional loan commitment to expand domestic rare-earth processing and build a new rare-earth metals and alloy facility, part of a broader effort to reduce U.S. dependence on Chinese supply chains for critical minerals. The article highlights five additional government-backed rare-earth and critical-minerals companies for investors to watch: MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP), USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR), Critical Metals Corp. (NASDAQ:CRML), Perpetua Resources Corp. (NASDAQ:PPTA) and Lithium Americas Corp. (NYSE:LAC), all of which have benefited from federal investments, loans, offtake agreements or strategic partnerships aimed at strengthening domestic supplies of materials essential for defense, semiconductors, renewable energy and advanced manufacturing.

"Elon Musk’s Net Worth Soars Past $1 Trillion As SpaceX IPO Ignites A New Wealth Era," by Chris Katje, reports that Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire after SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) completed a record-breaking IPO that valued the company at more than $2 trillion, pushing Musk’s estimated net worth above the $1 trillion threshold due to his large ownership stake in SpaceX and substantial holdings in Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). The IPO marked a historic milestone in wealth creation, with investor enthusiasm for space, artificial intelligence and advanced technology businesses driving SpaceX’s valuation to unprecedented levels and cementing Musk’s position as the world’s wealthiest individual.

For additional bullish calls of the past week, check out the following:

Micron’s Broadcom‑Driven Drop Never Made Sense — Dip Buyers Are Up 40%

Why Is Hyperscale Data Stock Surging On Thursday?

Why Is Micron Stock Gaining Tuesday?

The Bears

"Michael Burry Is Using Ukraine’s Own Words Against Palantir," by Piero Cingari, reports that famed investor Michael Burry intensified his bearish campaign against Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:PLTR) by highlighting statements from Ukrainian defense officials indicating that Ukraine has developed and increasingly deployed its own battlefield software, which officials reportedly described as being "no worse" than Palantir’s systems. Burry argued that this undermines one of the core narratives supporting Palantir’s premium valuation and reinforced his longstanding short position, which includes long-dated put options and a view that the stock is worth well below its current market price.

"Space Stocks Get Torched: Short Seller Calls Them ‘Sci-Fi Wishes’," by Erica Kollmann, reports that a short report from Fugazi Research triggered a sharp selloff across space-sector stocks as the firm argued that many publicly traded space companies are fundamentally overvalued and rely more on investor enthusiasm than viable commercial businesses, describing the sector as a collection of "sci-fi wishes rather than investable commercial opportunities." The report targeted companies including AST SpaceMobile Inc. (NASDAQ:ASTS), Redwire Corp. (NYSE:RDW), Momentus Inc. (NASDAQ:MNTS), Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. (NYSE:SPCE) and Sidus Space Inc. (NASDAQ:SIDU), while also arguing that the investment case for many space stocks weakened significantly following the SpaceX (NASDAQ:SPCX) IPO because investors now have direct access to the industry’s dominant and most financially established player, prompting profit-taking and renewed scrutiny of the sector’s fundamentals.

"Why Is IBM Stock Declining On Thursday?," by Adam Eckert, reports that International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) shares fell as part of a broader sell-off in software and IT services stocks, with investors rotating out of the sector amid renewed concerns about higher interest rates, mixed macroeconomic signals, and lingering worries that AI-driven disruption could pressure traditional consulting and legacy software revenue streams, while IBM specifically also faced profit-taking after a recent run-up tied to optimism around its hybrid cloud and AI initiatives, leading to underperformance versus major indexes on the day.

For more bearish takes, be sure to see these posts:

Apple Will Raise Prices Due To Soaring Memory Costs: CEO Tim Cook Says ‘This Is A 100-Year Flood’

These 10 Stocks Are Getting Crushed By Short Sellers Right Now

Why Is Redwire Stock Falling On Tuesday?

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.