🔝 Nasdaq-100 Index: The House of Rising SunThe History is happening right here! ✨
Nasdaq-100 Index NASDAQ:NDX just set its Best First Half in almost 40 years since inception in 1985, with amazing 38.75% year-to-date return in 2023.
Among all semi-annual results, Nasdaq-100 gain this year is second only to the year of 1999.
With historical 61.44% gain in the second half of 1999, glory times shortly ended. Just two months later in the 1st quarter of 2000 index peaked at 4816.15, for the next 15 plus years.
As 38.75% surge in 2023 still far away from the All-the-history record 61.44% in 1999, stocks feel this year like they are, as the great 1960's band "The Animals" said, in the House of the Rising Sun. They won the race, and closed the 1st half of the year with solid gains.
Let's take a look and congratulate the winners of the race! ✨
🥇 The 1st place - Nvidia Corporation, 184.84% YTD return NASDAQ:NVDA
Nvidia is the clear winner in the AI arms race so far. It's the company that appears best positioned to dominate the burgeoning sector, and more and more investors continue to wake up to the potential of artificial intelligence.
Nvidia effectively provides a one-stop shop for what customers need to drive their AI ambitions. They control their entire ecosystem on both hardware and software, similar to Apple, and that puts them years ahead of competitors.
🥈 The 2nd place - Meta Platform Incorporation, 133.66% YTD return NASDAQ:META
Meta Platforms stock jumped this year after the tech giant's first-quarter earnings beat Wall Street's expectations. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also touted the tech giant's AI plans, and pledged to keep costs low as the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instragram continues its "year of efficiency."
In a post-earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg hailed the company's AI efforts and vowed to keep a lid on spending. The Meta founder and CEO said AI recommendations had led to people spending over 24% more time on Instagram since it launched TikTok rival Reels.
🥉 The 3rd place - Tesla Incorporation, 120.88% YTD return NASDAQ:TSLA
Tesla's stock price has been rallying non-stop for months - and Wall Street is starting to ponder whether that breakneck surge might've made the EV stock a little overvalued.
Shares have jumped 57% since late April, with investors cheered by CEO Elon Musk signing charging deals with Ford and GM, while Big Tech stocks have also soared more broadly thanks to the rise of AI as an investment theme.
The stock just has settled its best two-quarter advance since 2020.
But Barclays, Morgan Stanley, and Goldman Sachs have each questioned that valuation over the past two weeks, with all three banks slashing their Tesla rating from "buy" to "hold".
Unprecedented dominance
It's historically rare for a handful of stocks from the same sector to make up such a large part of the S&P500 ( SP:SPX ).
The last time the five biggest companies by valuation accounted for a quarter of the index's total market cap was indeed the 1960s.
