Friday's Market Close: Software Gains vs. Healthcare and Chip Losses
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on July 24, 2026.
Software and fintech stocks rallied at Friday's close while a double-digit sell-off hit healthcare and semiconductor names, splitting the market sharply by sector.
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On the winning side, tax-compliance software firm Vertex (VERX) led all gainers with a 7.4% advance to $11.70, followed by DocuSign (DOCU) up 6.6% to $50.15 and Bill Holdings (BILL) climbing 5.6% to $43.58. Samsara (IOT) and Digital Turbine (APPS) also posted solid gains of 4.6% and 4.6% respectively, reflecting broad appetite for software and fintech names heading into the weekend.
The losses were steeper and more concentrated. Hims & Hers (HIMS) fell 12.8% to $28.56, the sharpest single-stock decline of the session among the notable movers. SanDisk (SNDK) dropped 11.6% to $1,424.06, while Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI) shed 10.7% to $100.04, underscoring the pressure on semiconductor and hardware-adjacent names.
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The divergence between the two groups underscores how Friday's session was less about broad market direction and more about rotation — investors appeared to favor asset-light software and payments businesses while pulling back from health-tech and chip-related plays. The double-digit losses across multiple names in the latter group signal meaningful selling rather than routine end-of-week positioning.