There is no doubt that the "Big Seven" remain critical to index performance, analysts at Citi told investors in a note Wednesday.
The firm explained that five stocks – MSFT, NVDA, AMZN, META (NASDAQ:META), and GOOG – have contributed 4.7% of the 8.3% S&P 500 year-to-date return, although TSLA (NASDAQ:TSLA) and AAPL have been a collective -1.2% drag on the index so far this year.
However, there are some signs of stock level broadening, with more than two-thirds of S&P 500 companies having a positive return year-to-date, while 177 members have outperformed the index this year.
Nearly half of the index, 233 companies, have climbed 5% or more in 2024.
When it comes to individual sectors, communication services, at +13.9%, and Tech, at +11.9%, lead the action.
"However, Energy (+9.8% YTD) and Financials (+9.1% YTD) are also outperforming," noted Citi. "Industrials (+7.6% YTD) and Health Care (+6.7% YTD) are not far off the index pace. Only Real Estate (-3.2% YTD) is in negative territory."
"In Summary, there is no doubt that the Big 7 remains critical to index performance. Yet, signs of broadening are quite clear," added the firm. "Interestingly, the Russell 2000 is barely in positive on the year thus far. We have argued that it is inherently more economic sensitive and, as such, may be the better reflection of Fed rate policy."