For virtually all of 2023, investors, traders and the financial media have breathlessly followed the movements of the stocks now known as the Magnificent Seven.
The group is largely responsible for the huge 2023 gains of the Standard & Poor's 500 index (24%), the Nasdaq Composite index (43%) and the Nasdaq-100 index (53%).
The group are: Apple (AAPL) – Get a free reportAmazon.com (AMZN) – Get a free reportGoogle main alphabet (GOOG) – Get a free reportMain Facebook Metaplatforms (GOAL) – Get a free reportmicrosoft (MSFT) – Get a free reportNVIDIA (NVDA) – Get a free report and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (TSLA) – Get a free report.
Related: Here's what analysts predict for the S&P 500 in the new year
The overall performance of the stock market in 2023 has been a strong rally on top of market enthusiasm about the potential game-changing benefits of artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.
Nvidia and Microsoft were leaders of the pack due to their leading positions in chips made for artificial intelligence applications and the software itself.
Tesla, of course, dominated the electric vehicle market.
The bear market in 2022 was a product of both overbought stocks and the Federal Reserve's decision to combat inflation, which spiked after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic subsided in 2021 and 2022.
The Magnificent Seven start the charge
Looking at the performance of the seven shows that most of their gains came in the first quarter of 2023, followed by gains in the second.
The fourth quarter has been strong for the group, but they are not seeing profits as eye-catching as those in the first quarter.
One reason is that the big market rally that broke out in late October caused many investors to see bargains beyond Mag 7 stocks.
Michael Nagle/Xinhua via Getty Images
This fall, stocks 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 cuts in rates in 2024.
Gains have accelerated for stocks in the Russell 2000 index, as well as banks, airlines, home builders and others.
Another point: Three of the seven are still trading below their closing prices at the end of 2021: Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla.
Here are the data.
Apple
- December 22, 2023 closing $193.60
- First quarter change +26.91%
- Second quarter change +17.63%
- Third quarter change -11.7%
- Fourth quarter change +13.8%
- Change to date (as of December 22) +49.00%
- Change from 2021 +9.0
Amazon
- December 22, 2023 closing $153.42
- First quarter change +25.54%
- Second quarter change +23.62%
- Third quarter change -2.49%
- Fourth trimester change +20.69
- Change to date +82.64%
- Change from 2021 –7.98%
Alphabet (GOOGL)
- December 22 closed $141.49
- First quarter change +17.57%
- Second quarter change +15.4%
- Third quarter change +9.32%
- Fourth trimester change +8.12
- % change to date +60.36%
- Change from 2021 -2.32%
Metaplatforms
- December 22 closed $353.39
- First quarter change +76.12%
- Second quarter change +35.41%
- Third quarter change +4.61%
- Fourth trimester change +17.71%
- Change to date +193.66%
- Change from 2021 +5.07%
microsoft
- December 22 closed $374.58
- First quarter change +20.22%
- Second quarter change +18.12%
- Third quarter change -7.28%
- Fourth trimester change +18.63%
- Change to date +56.19&
- Change from 2021 +11.38%
NVIDIA
- December 22 closed +488.30
- First quarter change +84.64%
- Second quarter change +56.77
- Third quarter change +2.83%
- Fourth trimester change 12.26%
- Change to date +233.14%
- Change from 2021 +66.03%
tesla
- December 22 closed $252.54
- First quarter change 68.42%
- Second quarter change 26.18%
- Third quarter change -4.41%
- Fourth trimester change +0.93%
- Change to date 105.2%
- Change from 2021 -28.31%
