Moderna and Software Stocks Lead August Market Rebound After Hedge Fund Unwind

Moderna led the index in August after announcing promising results for its experimental melanoma vaccine developed with Merck , challenging skepticism about whether its mRNA technology could produce another major breakthrough. "This is miraculous, so it got a miraculous welcome," Cramer said. Prior to 2026, Moderna shares had spent years under pressure as demand waned for its Covid-19 vaccine.

Enterprise software accounted for many of the other big rebounds in August. Palantir , Veeva Systems , Salesforce and ServiceNow had all faced varying degrees of selling as investors questioned the durability of software in the AI era. Cramer said those declines were exacerbated by the presence of Situational Awareness, a highly leveraged fund that had made large bets against software stocks based on that thesis. Situational Awareness was forced to unwind its trades in late July.

"As August comes to a grinding end, it's hard to believe that the reverberations of a hedge fund implosion could color so much of the month's action," he said.

Cramer said Palantir's earlier decline never made sense given its exceptional combination of revenue growth and profitability. Salesforce rebounded after a strong quarter undercut fears of the "SaaSpocalypse," while ServiceNow rallied after showing it could successfully integrate AI into its existing business. Veeva, which is focused on the life sciences industry, also bounced back alongside the broader software group after fears that AI would disrupt its business proved overblown.

"The comeback in software from incredibly depressed levels was breathtaking," Cramer said.

Gartner joined the rebound after earlier being hit by concerns that AI models such as Anthropic's Claude could diminish the need for its technology research. Cramer said those fears ultimately weren't reflected in the company's business.

Outside software, miner Newmont benefited from an emerging recovery in the price of gold, which had been soared last year and into early 2026, before topping out. To be sure, Cramer said he prefers the stock of fellow miner Agnico Eagle Mines over Newmont.

Paramount Skydance also bounced back as its proposed Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition remained delayed. Last week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta canceled a meeting with Paramount Skydance

because the company demonstrated a "lack of good faith" in early settlement talks. Cramer said investors think Paramount is overpaying, meaning the roadblocks to completing the deal have actually helped the stock.

Super Micro Computer and Sandisk also surged as booming demand for memory used in AI data centers lifted both stocks. Super Micro's rally came despite continued scrutiny surrounding its business in China. For its part, Sandisk's strength in August came after a brutal July that saw shares fall over 46%. The stock remains about 33% below its late June closing high.