Western Digital (up 39%) Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC), the maker of data storage devices, including hard disk drives and solid state drives, jumped in January largely due to reports that it's holding merger talks with Kioxia Holdings, another data storage provider. The broad-market index rose 6.2% in January as investors responded bullishly to falling inflation and signs the Federal Reserve would start slowing its interest rate hikes. Instead, a combination of bullish analyst notes, a strong earnings report from Netflix, hopes for an economic recovery, and an announcement about price hikes all seemed to give shares a boost.