Big Tech stocks retake the lead
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The comeuppance of tech's behemoths didn't last long.
Driving the news: Mega cap tech stocks have bolted out of the gate this year, leaving the overall market in the dust.
By the numbers: The S&P 500 is up roughly 4.9% so far. The Nasdaq composite is up more than 13%.
- Year-to-date gains for tech giants like Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet, are bigger, with the shares rising 24%, 17% and 15%, respectively.
- Meta and Tesla shares have seen a gargantuan rally, with Mark Zuckerberg's company up nearly 70% and Elon Musk's up nearly 60%.
Between the lines: Big Tech is benefiting from both a drop in interest rates — especially influential on tech shares — and the sector's newfound appreciation for appealing to Wall Street with time-tested tactics like mass layoffs and big stock buybacks.
The bottom line: The market would be underwater this year if not for these companies. In a recent note, Goldman Sachs analysts estimated that without the six largest tech issues, the S&P would have been down 2% for the year at the end of last week, instead of up more than 3%.
