Cathie Wood's Innovation ETF surges 13%, on track for its best day ever

Catherine Wood, chief executive officer of ARK Investment Management LLC, participates in a panel discussion during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, May 2, 2022.

Lauren Justice | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Cathie Wood’s flagship ARK Innovation ETF staged a dramatic relief rally Thursday on the back of an easing inflation reading. The fund is on track to post its best day ever.

The exchange-traded fund, with $6.9 billion assets under management, jumped more than 13% to hit an intraday high of $37.02, on pace to post its biggest daily pop since its inception in 2014.

ARKK’s biggest holding Zoom Video popped about 12%, while Tesla jumped nearly 7%. Roku advanced more than 11%. Teladoc climbed 12%. Unity, Invitae and Pacific Biosciences all traded up over 20% so far Thursday.

As of midday, more than 28 million shares of ARKK have changed hands, already surpassing its 30-day average volume of about 25 million.

ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) top holdings performance Thursday

Wood’s disruptive darlings have been hurt particularly hard this year as rising rates made growth names unappealing. These stocks could see a big rebound if easing price pressures lead the Federal Reserve to dial back its aggressive tightening efforts.

The innovation investor has been calling deflation for some time, betting the high prices were caused by temporary Covid-related supply issue. Wood said recently that her conviction in deflation has increased, and Thursday’s report could signal that the trend has started to go in her direction.

She told investors in a webinar Tuesday that inflation will be influenced by companies slashing prices due to inventory excess heading into the holiday season.

ARKK, managed solely by Wood, is still down 61% this year. The innovation investor just doubled down on a slew of her favorite stocks this week, unfazed by the turmoil in many of these names.

Wood snapped up shares of six companies Wednesday, including adding to some of her largest holdings Zoom Video and Tesla. The popular investor has been adding to her Coinbase stake for two straight days, even amid the potential collapse of popular crypto exchange FTX.

Tesla, ARKK’s second biggest holding, is still down more than 16% in November alone as Elon Musk rushed to sell billions of dollars worth of stock to help fund his acquisition of Twitter.