Stock trading has been weird in 2024 as fear arising from high interest rates, inflation, and other factors seemingly collided with investor greed stemming from the incredible promise of the technology sector to generate an apparent frenzy that led to several blue chips surging more like penny stocks.
Indeed, it has, so far, been precisely the larger companies that have been driving much of the rally, with the trend being highlighted as a potential warning sign as far back as February and pointed out on multiple occasions since.
Whether truly a reason for concern or not, the fact remains that many of the biggest firms in the market have also been outperforming the benchmark indices since the start of the year.
Picks for you
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA)
In many ways, the semiconductor giant Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) is synonymous with the current bull market that has seen the S&P 500 close at a new all-time high (ATH) on more than 25% of all full trading sessions of the year.
As the most important supplier of raw computing power for the ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) boom, Nvidia has seen unprecedented inflows since late 2022, and its market cap rose approximately $3 trillion in the 20-odd months, turning it into the biggest company in the world.
This year, NVDA shares have risen 188.04% since January 2, and Nvidia stock price today stands at $138.75.
Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
If Nvidia has become eponymous with the rally, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) can be regarded as the trend’s harbinger.
While the company is active in many sectors and has recently completed one of the biggest corporate acquisitions in history, having bought the gaming titan Activision Blizzard, few of its decisions have been as impactful for its current status as its early backing of OpenAI.
Indeed, the firm’s many expansions and involvement with the rollout of ChatGPT – and the in-house Copilot – have enabled MSFT to find itself 21.04% in the green in the year-to-date (YTD) chart. Microsoft price today, at press time, stands at $449.12.
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) is yet another company that benefited greatly from recognizing the potential of AI quickly and from rolling out its own platform – Gemini.
Additionally, as revealed by a string of leaked documents, Google may have been helped along to greater revenues and earnings by certain changes to its ubiquitous search engine, though it may be worth noting that some experts see the alterations as a long-term risk for the company’s dominance in the industry.
Nonetheless, no matter what the future holds, GOOGL shares have recorded an impressive 27.24% rise in the first half of 2024, and Google stock price today stands at $175.81.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)
Following the current market trends, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has, along with its dominance in the western e-commerce sector, also benefited from the popularity and proliferation of artificial intelligence thanks to its cloud services – AWS.
Time and time again, experts and analysts have singled out this section of Amazon’s business as offering the most impressive growth, and since 2024 started, AMZN shares have witnessed a major stock market rise.
Following a 22.22% YTD surge, Amazon stock price today stands at $183.25.
Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META)
While not as present in the discussions about the AI boom, Meta Platform (NASDAQ: META) is yet another big tech stock that has seen an impressive rise amid the current strong uptrend affecting the technology and communications sectors.
The company may also receive another major boon in the coming months, given that the U.S. legislative branch voted in favor of forcing TikTok to either sell its business to a local company or abandon the country.
Finally, despite some controversies shaking its reputation – such as the alleged forwarding of its users’ personal messages to Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) – the firm is 45.21% in the green YTD, and Meta stock price today stands at $502.86.
Not all large caps doing better than the overall market
The exceptionally strong performance is not limited solely to the biggest of the big companies and many others – such as the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE: TSM) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) – are also substantially in the green.
What makes this outperformance even more impressive is that the benchmark indices themselves – particularly the S&P 500 – have also risen substantially, more than 15%, in 2024.
Simultaneously, the strong uptrend hasn’t been universal among the major firms. Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), for example, truly found its footing only after it partnered up with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into the upcoming generation of operating systems, while Elon Musk’s electric vehicle (EV) maker, Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA), remains deep in the red.
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Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
