For just about all of 2023, investors, traders and financial media have breathlessly followed the movements of the stocks now known as the Magnificent Seven.
The group are largely responsible for the huge gains in 2023 in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (24%), the Nasdaq Composite Index (43%), and the Nasdaq-100 Index (53%).
The group are: Apple (AAPL) -), Amazon.com (AMZN) -), Google-parent Alphabet (GOOG) -), Facebook-parent Meta Platforms (META) -), Microsoft (MSFT) -), Nvidia (NVDA) -) and electric-vehicle maker Tesla (TSLA) -).
Related: Here's what analysts are predicting for the S&P 500 in the new year
The stock market's 2023 performance overall has been a huge rebound rally plus market enthusiasm about the potential game-changing benefits from artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.
Nvidia and Microsoft were leaders of the pack because of their leadership positions in chips made for AI applications and the software itself.
Tesla, of course, was dominating the market for electric vehicles.
The bear market in 2022 was the product of both overbought stocks and the Federal Reserve's decision to fight inflation, which was jumping after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic eased in 2021 and 2022.
The Magnificent Seven start the charge
Looking at the performances of the seven shows that the bulk of their gains came in the first quarter of 2023 with follow-up gains in the second.
The fourth quarter has been strong for the group, but they're not seeing gains as gaudy as those in the first quarter.
One reason is that the market's big rally that erupted at the end of October caused many investors to see bargains beyond the Mag 7 stocks.
Michael Nagle/Xinhua via Getty Images
Shares this fall have been helped by falling interest rates and oil prices and increasingly clear signals from the Federal Reserve that it was done raising interest rates and could see cutting rates in 2024.
Gains have accelerated for stocks in the Russell 2000 Index, plus banks, airlines, homebuilders, and others.
One other point: Three of the seven are still trading below their closing prices at the end of 2021: Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla.
Here's the data.
Apple
- Dec. 22, 2023 close $193.60
- First-qtr change +26.91%
- Second-qtr change +17.63%
- Third-qtr change -11.7%
- Fourth-qtr change +13.8%
- YTD Change (as of Dec. 22) +49.00%
- Change from 2021 +9.0%
Amazon
- Dec. 22, 2023 close $153.42
- First-qtr change +25.54%
- Second-qtr change +23.62%
- Third-qtr change -2.49%
- Fourth-qtr change +20.69%
- YTD Change +82.64%
- Change from 2021 -7.98%
Alphabet (GOOG)
- Dec. 22 close $141.49
- First-qtr change +17.57%
- Second-qtr change +15.4%
- Third-qtr change +9.32%
- Fourth-qtr change +8.12
- YTD Change +60.36%
- Change from 2021 -2.32%
Meta Platforms
- Dec. 22 close $353.39
- First-qtr change +76.12%
- Second-qtr change +35.41%
- Third-qtr change +4.61%
- Fourth-qtr change +17.71%
- YTD Change +193.66%
- Change from 2021 +5.07%
Microsoft
- Dec. 22 close $374.58
- First-qtr change +20.22%
- Second-qtr change +18.12%
- Third-qtr change -7.28%
- Fourth-qtr change +18.63%
- YTD Change +56.19%
- Change from 2021 +11.38%
Nvidia
- Dec. 22 close $488.30
- First-qtr change +84.64%
- Second-qtr change +56.77%
- Third-qtr change +2.83%
- Fourth-qtr change 12.26%
- YTD Change +233.14%
- Change from 2021 +66.03%
Tesla
- Dec. 22 close $252.54
- First-qtr change 68.42%
- Second-qtr change 26.18%
- Third-qtr change -4.41%
- Fourth-qtr change +0.93%
- YTD Change 105.2%
- Change from 2021 -28.31%
