This week, which stocks led the S&P 500 higher? The Weekly Winners column tracks market-moving trends, highlighting the strongest sector momentum, top-performing stocks, and key thematic drivers behind price action.

Below are the top 10 S&P 500 gainers for the week ended Oct 9:

PTC (PTC Inc)
Shares jumped after Schneider Electric agreed to buy the industrial-software company in a roughly $22.6 billion all-cash deal. The premium and strategic rationale for expanding Schneider’s AI-enabled industrial software portfolio drove the weekly surge.

Crown Castle (Crown Castle)
The tower REIT rallied after SpaceX agreed to acquire about $8 billion of low-band spectrum. Investors expect SpaceX’s wireless ambitions could increase demand for tower leases and ground-infrastructure capacity across U.S. carriers.

Moderna (Moderna, Inc.)
Moderna rose on optimism around its mRNA cancer-vaccine program with Merck, ahead of a full Phase 3 melanoma readout later in October. Reports of a planned U.S. cancer-vaccine initiative and its Nasdaq-100 inclusion also supported buying.

Constellation Energy (Constellation Energy Corp)
The stock surged after Google signed long-term power agreements with Constellation, including a 20-year deal to fund upgrades at 11 nuclear reactors. The trade reinforced the AI-data-center power-demand thesis.

Vistra (Vistra Energy Corp.)
Vistra gained as a peer beneficiary of Google’s Constellation deal. As a merchant power producer in the same PJM market, it is seen as well positioned for rising AI-driven electricity demand and tighter grid capacity.

SBA Communications (SBA Communications Corp)
SBAC advanced with the broader tower-REIT rally. The SpaceX spectrum purchase raised expectations that additional ground-network buildout could support leasing demand for existing cell-tower infrastructure.

Ciena (Ciena)
Ciena climbed as optical-networking demand strengthened. A peer’s upbeat 60%-70% optical-interconnect growth outlook through 2030, plus analyst upgrades and AI data-center networking momentum, supported the stock.

NRG Energy (NRG Energy Inc)
NRG rose with merchant power producers as AI data-center power demand stayed in focus. The weekly move reflected sector rotation into independent generators that can benefit from higher electricity prices and data-center load growth.

American Tower (American Tower)
American Tower gained alongside Crown Castle and SBA Communications. The SpaceX spectrum deal helped lift tower REITs on expectations that expanded wireless and satellite services could require more ground-based infrastructure.

Cboe Global Markets (Cboe Global Markets, Inc)
Cboe advanced after Morgan Stanley upgraded it to Overweight and raised the price target to $358. The upgrade highlighted the S&P index-options licensing extension through 2051, durable options volumes, and new prediction-market optionality.

Conclusion

This week, the stocks leading the S&P 500 were driven by fairly diverse themes. Companies involved in acquisitions, energy, and partnerships with SpaceX posted strong gains, while Moderna, supported by multiple positive catalysts, hit a new high in more than four years.