‘Magnificent seven’ tech stocks drive US equity domination to new highs

SEVEN large US tech companies have driven all the gains in global stocks this year, pushing the US dominance of equity markets to new heights.

The so-called “magnificent seven” – Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia and Tesla – have been propping up the S&P 500 index of blue-chip US companies for most of the year because of investor excitement about the growth of artificial intelligence (AI).

The trend has become so extreme that it is dominating markets abroad. But for the seven companies, MSCI’s benchmark All-Country World index of almost 3,000 large and mid-sized companies would have declined in the year to date, according to Bloomberg data.