Investors are worried that because tech giants Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft benefited from lockdown so much their recent earnings will look disappointing in comparisonThe largest five stocks in the US have never been more important to the world stock market and, by extension, investors around the world. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Google account for 20.6 per cent of the United States’ benchmark S&P 500 index, which is widely tracked by an ever growing number of passive funds that simply aim to replicate the holdings of a stock market index. Even in the global MSCI World index they account for 13.7 per cent. SponsoredThe companies collectively known as FAAMGs are widely held by professional and retail investors, who have been richly rewarded. Facebook, the worst-performing of the five, has trebled investors’ cash over the past five years, double the overall return from the S&P 500.

Source: The Times July 30, 2021 23:00 UTC