Meta, Alphabet shares near 52-week highs

Shares of Meta and Alphabet both hit fresh highs of 2023, helping drive the Nasdaq Composite Wednesday.  

Facebook parent Meta ended the session at its highest close since Jan. 14, 2022, when it finished at $331.90, rising nearly 2% as tracked by Dow Jones Market Data Group.

The upward move came as European Commissioner Thierry Breton urged CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a letter to control disinformation on the social networking platform following the attacks against Israel by Hamas over the weekend. 

“Today’s price action sees Alphabet breaking above its last high, signaling that it is back in a rhythm of higher highs and higher lows,” Julius de Kempenaer, a senior technical analyst at Stockcharts.com, told FOX Business. 

“Facebook is pushing against its overhead resistance around 26, while both are showing strong trends and relative strength against the communication services sector.”

Google parent Alphabet finished at the highest close since April 2022, when it ended the session at $140.59 even with the ongoing antitrust case against the search giant by the Department of Justice, which has been described by the government as “monumental.”

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“The current rotation for Meta and Alphabet suggests more improvement for both stocks and the sector in coming weeks,” Kempenaer added. 

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Meanwhile, Meta’s rough 172% rise in 2023 puts the tech stock on track for its best year on record, which dates back to 2012, Dow Jones Market Data Group said. Alphabet is now up approximately 59% this year. 

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Over that same time, the Nasdaq 100 has risen over 39%, driven by a rally in other tech stocks like Amazon, Apple, Nvidia and Tesla.

“Alphabet and Meta remain two of the main drivers for this sector, and the recent price action for these stocks has again started to push both price and relative strength upward,” Kempenaer said. 

“Alphabet is slightly ahead of Meta, but after their recent setback, both have plenty of room for further improvement in terms of both price and relative strength.”