Last year’s pandemic rally looked like a one-off that lifted Big Tech to a new and commanding level. But nearly halfway through 2021, it is starting to seem as though that was only the start.
The leading tech companies are having an even better year on Wall Street than they did in 2020, and new records keep being set. Microsoft’s stock market value hit $2tn for the first time this week. Facebook, the only one of the leading companies that has yet to reach $1tn, is within a whisker of that mark.
These two, along with Apple, Amazon and Alphabet, have added $1.28tn in stock market value this year. That is $51bn a week, even more than the $47bn a week they gained throughout 2020 — a period that had seemed destined for the record books.