On average, stocks in the Nasdaq stock index comfortably outperformed both the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the month of August (rising 9.59% versus 7.01% and 7.57%, respectively). Companies such as Tesla pulled the technology and innovation index to all-time highs, while some laggards failed to participate in the run entirely.
BioMarin Pharmaceutical was by far the worst Nasdaq performer in August as a result of negative FDA news on its blockbuster hemophilia drug, Roctavian. This is a unique situation, and it is hard to extrapolate any broader context for the index's performance from this one price change.
When digging deeper into the largest Nasdaq losers for August, two themes do emerge: Companies like Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) (down 12.43% in August) and Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD) (down 4% in August) are creating medicines for COVID-19 and were struggling last month. Stocks like Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) (down 10.86% in August) providing hardware to power economic activity that has been halted by COVID-19 are suffering as well.