Sony Pictures
- After a stunning first-half rally, the so-called "Magnificent Seven" mega-cap Big Tech stocks have struggled in recent months.
- Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla have lost a whopping $1.2 trillion in market value since the end of July, per data from Refinitiv.
- Investors' fears about the Fed's rate hikes and spiking bond yields have fueled the sell-off.
The mega-cap Big Tech stocks that started 2023 on a tear are now struggling, racking up trillion-dollar losses for their shareholders as Wall Street frets about higher interest rates and soaring bond yields.
The so-called "Magnificent Seven" – consisting of Apple, Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Facebook parent Meta Platforms, and Tesla – have shed a staggering $1.2 trillion in valuation since the S&P 500 peaked at the end of July, according to data from Refinitiv. The benchmark index has dropped around 10% over the same period.
Apple alone has seen its market capitalization plummet by nearly half-a-trillion dollars over the past three months, by Insider's calculations, with shares plunging 15% amid signs that the economic slowdown in China will drag on its profits.
Tesla has shed nearly almost $200 billion – just under a quarter of its total market value – in a skid that deepened last week after a "mini disaster" of a third-quarter earnings call where CEO Elon Musk warned about an economic slowdown and delayed production of the Cybertruck.
The other Magnificent Seven stocks have also struggled since the end of July. Equities have been hammered by the Federal Reserve signaling it'll keep interest rates high into 2024 in a bid to kill off inflation, while spiking bond yields have also sowed panic on Wall Street.
The losses come after a stellar first half of the year for the blue-chippers, with the massive explosion of interest in intelligent language tools like ChatGPT encouraging investors to pile into AI-related stocks.
Each of the Magnificent Seven have still racked up either double- or triple-digit gains year-to-date, and the group made up just under 30% of the S&P 500's total market capitalization as of Thursday's closing bell.