The winners of 2023 will be the losers of 2024? The "Tech Seven Giants" in the US stock market have experienced four consecutive declines!

Tech stocks, which supported the U.S. stock market last year, have suffered a complete defeat at the beginning of this year, turning winners into losers.

Bloomberg's Magnificent 7 stock price return index has fallen for four consecutive days this month, with the "Big Seven" (Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Alphabet, NVIDIA, and Tesla) losing nearly $400 billion in market value.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq experienced its largest drop in over two months on Tuesday, and the Nasdaq 100 index has fallen for four consecutive days, dropping over 1% for two consecutive days.

Among them, Apple's stock price fell 4.6% YoY and lost $383 billion in market value due to a downgrade by Barclays to "underweight," leading the "Big Seven" in the worst drop in five months on Tuesday. Tesla has fallen 8.8% in the past four days, marking the longest consecutive decline in a month.

The Nasdaq has yet to emerge from the shadow of the tech winter

Last year, driven by the AI boom, the "Big Seven" with a weight of over 20% became the "pillar" of the rise in the U.S. stock market. However, as market confidence in the U.S. economy achieving a "soft landing" decreased and bets on the magnitude of interest rate cuts were reduced, the momentum of tech stocks began to wane in the second half of the year.

It is worth noting that despite the strong support from the "Big Seven" and the strong rebound in the stock market at the end of the year, the Nasdaq has not recovered to the same level as the same period in 2021—as of the time of writing, the Nasdaq is still down about 6.7% compared to the end of 2021.

According to FactSet data, the S&P 500 index has risen 3.4% between 2022 and 2023, while the Nasdaq Composite index has fallen 2.4%.

In addition, a report from Bank of America stated, "Although the Magnificent 7 has risen 9% in two years, Tesla, Amazon, and Alphabet have been struggling since 2021."

Has the rise of technology stocks peaked?

Does the heavy blow to technology stocks signal the end of this round of gains?

Steve Sosnick, Chief Strategist at Interactive Brokers Group, believes:

"We don't know if last year's rally has completely ended, but the market's pullback after this continuous rise is to be expected and is completely normal."

He believes: If it wasn't for the year-end push that boosted the stock market, we would see this frenzy gradually coming to an end.

Jim Cramer, a well-known financial commentator in the United States, stated that although it was difficult, he still reduced his holdings in some large technology stocks:

"When you sell or reduce your holdings in any of the 'FANG' stocks, it seems that something happens afterwards that makes you regret it."

"(However) the good news is that now you can buy these stocks at a lower price, because the stock market is performing worse and worse."

Previously, he publicly stated that investors' belief that the upward momentum of technology stocks was insufficient and their shift to buying low-priced stocks in the food and pharmaceutical sectors led to the current decline, which is a normal "sector rotation".

Sosnick also holds an optimistic view on technology stocks, believing that it is still too early to say that the rise of technology stocks has come to an end.

Sosnick's reason is that the gains of most technology stocks last year offset their declines in 2022, and the stock prices of Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Tesla are still below their historical highs, indicating that there may still be room for further growth.

However, against the backdrop of upward pressure, Sosnick believes that in order to restore market confidence in 2024, technology giants need to demonstrate their corresponding technical capabilities and not only be professionally hardcore but also sustain profitability.