Stocks rebounded hard following the March 2020 lows. One of the things to watch out for, people were warning, is that the rally was only being led by a few names.
COVID-19 was a tailwind for the mega-cap tech stocks. As if they weren’t already in a position of strength, they were able to really flex their muscles when so much of the country was atrophying.
But things have changed over the last six months. If you’ve been paying close attention, you probably realized that they hadn’t done much lately, while the rest of the market’s had a chance to catch up.
For the last six months, the FANMAG stocks, except for Apple, haven’t done squat. These are the rankings within the S&P 500 since July 20th (cherry-picking, I know).
- Apple 196
- Google 357
- Facebook 432
- Microsoft 433
- Netflix 450
- Amazon 455
Only 51 stocks in the S&P 500 have done worse than Amazon over the last six months.
An equal-weighted basket of the big six gained 7%, while the S&P 500 gained 17%, and the Russell 2000 gained 45%
Netflix hasn’t made a new high since July. Microsoft and Amazon haven’t made a new high since September. Since then, the market has made multiple new highs that have been led by materials and healthcare and energy and industrials and financials!
This has been about as bullish an outcome if one could have hoped for. That doesn’t mean this will continue forever, of course. But right now, you gotta tip your cap to the bulls.
