The “Magnificent Seven” in retreat

Article Excerpt

Global equity markets made modest further gains in February—although the magnificent seven U.S. companies (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta and Tesla) dragged the U.S. market down. Bonds had a good month as interest rates moved lower. Interest rates sensitive equities, such as utilities and REITs also moved higher. China equities (Toronto symbol ZCH) had a strong month on hopes for a more market friendly approach from the government. Other strong performers were Canadian utilities (Toronto ZUT) and U.S. consumer staples (New York XLP). Among the losers for February were the “Magnificent 7” U.S. companies (New York MAGS). These top U.S. companies were down by 6.4% in February and are also sharply down year to date. Other losers for the month included Bitcoin ETFs (Toronto BTCC), U.S. Homebuilders (New York XHB), and U.S. Consumer Discretionary (New York XLY). Stocks lost momentum in February. As measured by the Vanguard Total World Stocks ETF (New York VT), global equities gained 0.4%. U.S. equities—the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (New York…