A Santa Claus rally may be coming to town as the year wraps up — or at least that was the hope this week. After what’s been a gruesome year for stocks — the worst since 2008 — investors hoped for a little holiday miracle, or a rally into the end of 2022 to kick off 2023 on a positive note. Wall Street got the opposite. Stocks struggled this week as recession fears resurfaced, putting a damper on last hopes for a market uptick. The S & P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were last down 0.4% and 2.1% for the week, respectively, and both are on pace for a third straight week of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.8% higher for the week. Despite the bleak outlook, some stocks are on track to post gains for the week. CNBC Pro used FactSet data to screen for the stocks with the greatest week-to-date percentage changes as of Friday’s open. These are some of the names that made the cut. Nike ruled as the best performer this week, with shares rising almost 10% after the sports apparel company topped analysts’ expectations for the fiscal second-quarter . The company also showed progress as it works through its inventory glut exacerbated by supply chain disruptions. Given this, Nike chief financial officer Matt Friend said on an earnings call that the company expects to grow its revenues for the full fiscal year. Shares have tumbled about 30% this year, with analysts split over its near-term growth. About 46% of analysts rate the stocks as a buy, with the consensus price target implying upside of more than 7% from Thursday’s close. Another top performer this week was Moderna after it got an upgrade from Jefferies to a buy from hold . Analysts called Moderna’s promising experimental cancer vaccine a potential catalyst for the stock as the drug maker from its Covid tailwinds. Shares rallied almost 7% this week as of Friday’s open. Shares of Moderna are down more than 21% this year, with about 37% of analysts saying the stock is a buy. The average price target implies a roughly 9% upside for the stock from Thursday’s close. Charter Communications saw the third-largest rally this week. Shares gained 6.8% as of Friday’s open. The company got an upgrade to equal weight from underweight at Wells Fargo, with a modest price target cut to $340 from $370 a share. The stock’s down about 49% this year, but the consensus price target suggests shares stand to gain more than 41% from Thursday’s close. Energy stocks APA Corp and Halliburton also made the list, with shares rising 4% and 6.4%, respectively, this week, as of Friday’s open. Shares of General Electric surged 5.6%.
