The Magnificent 7
America’s flagship stock market index, the S&P 500, closed at another record high yesterday, as a stream of solid earnings reports — including Netflix (see more below) — drove the index to a fresh high.
Gone are the stock acronyms of FANG, MANTAMAN, or FAATMAN, and in is a new moniker for companies driving the market: The Magnificent 7 — Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla. Not for decades has the US stock market been so top-heavy, with 28% of the index concentrated in just these 7 names. Indeed, the two biggest components are so large that buying $100 of an S&P 500 fund now means you’ve effectively bought ~$7 in Apple stock and ~$7 in Microsoft, with the other ~$86 split among the remaining stocks in the index.
Big tech’s relentless rise has seen these companies gain $5.66 trillion in market cap since the start of last year. That’s equivalent to adding the value of 33 Walt Disney companies... in just over a year.
