Last Friday, the three most widely followed benchmark indexes closed a losing week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 lost 0.2%, 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. However, for the month, the Dow, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched up gains of 3.2%, 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively.
Last week, trade was held back by a combination of profit-taking and growing inflation concerns. Despite earlier record highs driven by strong Q2 GDP data, investors dialed back positions ahead of a key PCE inflation report, which signaled persistent price pressures. Fed signals at Jackson Hole in the week prior had hinted at possible rate cuts, but that optimism was offset by stubborn inflation metrics and mixed corporate earnings
Broader sentiment was dampened by lingering geopolitical tensions, particularly U.S.-China and U.S.-India trade frictions and uncertainty over energy markets amid the Middle East unrest.
Regardless of market conditions, we, here at Zacks, provide investors with unbiased guidance on how to beat the market.
As usual, Zacks Research guided investors over the past three months with its time-tested methodologies. Given the prevailing market uncertainty, you may want to look at our feats to prepare better for your next action.
Here are some of our key achievements:
Shares of Dorian LPG Ltd. LPG have gained 26.4% (versus the S&P 500’s 6.2% increase) since it was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) on June 26.
Another stock, FS Bancorp, Inc. FSBW, which was upgraded to a Rank #2 (Buy) on June 27, has returned 8.2% (versus the S&P 500’s 5.4% increase) since then.
A hypothetical portfolio of Zacks Rank # 1 (Strong Buy) stocks returned +1.47% in 2025 (through August 4th) vs. +5.60% for the S&P 500 index and +6.77% for the equal-weight version of the index.
This portfolio returned +22.4% in 2024, vs. +28% for the S&P 500 index and +19.9% for the equal-weight version of the S&P 500 index.
This hypothetical portfolio returned +20.65% in 2023 vs. +24.83% for the S&P 500 index and +15% for the equal-weight S&P 500 index.
The Zacks Model Portfolio – consisting of Zacks Rank #1 stocks – has outperformed the S&P index by more than 12 percentage points since 1988 (through August 4th, 2025, the Zacks # 1 Rank stocks generated an annualized average return of +23.6% vs. +11.3% for the S&P 500 index).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here >>>
Check Dorian LPG’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>
