The stock market has defied expectations with a robust surge, even as industry heavyweights like Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) experience notable downturns in their share prices.
What Happened: The S&P 500 has delivered its strongest first quarter since 2019, despite an 11% drop in Apple’s shares and a nearly 30% fall in Tesla’s stock. A report from The Wall Street Journal highlights the emergence of a new tech quartet, consisting of Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), which has been pivotal in driving the broader market’s performance.
Investor sentiment is buoyed by hopes that the economy may skirt a severe recession and anticipations of potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. The burgeoning excitement around artificial intelligence technologies has also played a role in bolstering market optimism.
"The fact that the market is still holding these levels and trading up without that full force of the Magnificent Seven is actually a really positive thing," said Joseph Ferrara, investment strategist at Gateway Investment Advisers.
However, some market participants are cautious, viewing the divergence in big tech stock performance as a possible sign of a rally nearing its end. Despite these concerns, ...