The magnificent seven are acquiring a less flattering nickname: the lag seven.<\/p>\n
It follows a sharp reversal in fortunes for the stocks \u2013 Nvidia, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Tesla \u2013 that have powered the US stock market in recent years. <\/p>\n
Microsoft<\/a> has seen especially heavy falls, shedding a fifth of its value in June following its worst monthly performance since the dotcom crash in December 2000.<\/p>\n However, none of the seven has been spared. Since mid-May, the cohort has sold off even as the broader market has advanced, underperforming the S&P 500<\/a> by almost 20 percentage points and marking a clear break from the pattern of recent years, when their direction largely determined that of the index.<\/p>\n That in itself is notable. There have been countless warnings that this bull market was a fragile one, resting on the shoulders of a few mega-cap titans. <\/p>\n Should the magnificent seven get into trouble, the thesis went, so would the broader market. However, that hasn\u2019t happened. Instead, the so-called S&P 493 stocks have picked up the baton and outperformed handily in 2026, suggesting a broadening of market participation that is typically associated with healthier bull markets.<\/p>\n The shift is being driven by a reassessment of where returns in the AI economy will accrue. Investors appear increasingly sceptical that the hyperscalers, spending hundreds of billions on AI infrastructure, will necessarily translate their enormous investments into commensurate profits.<\/p>\n