Analysis

Too Big to Care: FANMAG stocks experienced a huge spike despite unprecedented political disruption

Neither Trump nor Biden can put a dent in big tech’s green wave, which like the Covid-19 pandemic which supports it, isn’t impacted by politics

Blue wave, red wave, for big tech companies’ stocks it doesn’t really matter. As far as they are concerned, the recent period as well as the foreseeable future constitutes a green wave. Neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden really has an impact on what takes place in the tech sector. If the past year has proven anything, it is that the big tech gang is a state unto themselves. The stocks of other sectors, like consumer products, finance, or energy are subject to political influence, taxation policy, and presidential ideology. Tech is too big even for the leader of the free world to impact.

 

Evidence of the unusual and concerning extent of the tech giants’ clout could be seen over the last week with Nasdaq spiking by 8.5%. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Indexes also registered handsome increases, countering expectations, however, the S&P 500 too was mostly hoisted by tech stocks, while other sectors are broadcasting weakness. The Dow Jones, for example, settled for a mere 5.1% increase. The spike was particularly surprising in light of the concerns surrounding the absence of a clear determination on the identity of the next U.S. president. Not only was it late in coming, it took four days, time enough for Trump to follow up on his greatest threat: casting doubt on the veracity of the elections and in doing so undermining the foundations of American democracy. Biden may have been announced the winner, but Trump continues to send out signals that he’ll refuse to vacate the world’s most desirable real-estate.

 

Donald Trump and Joe Biden on the background of stock market figures. Photo: AP and Shutterstock

It seems that both Trump and Biden supporters can calm down. For the so-called FANMAG stocks (Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google) it makes little difference whether someone posts “MAGA” on Twitter every morning and urges the stock market to remain at record levels. Neither are they particularly bothered by someone wanting to increase their tax rates or break them into parts. This is particularly true as long as humanity’s biggest concern is an apolitical coronavirus that only increases billions of people’s dependency on big tech.