Nasdaq 100 Reaches Record Highs in 2023, Best Performance Since 2009

The seven largest stocks in the S&P 500, dubbed the "Magnificent Seven," began 2022 with a combined market cap of $11.78 trillion; however, they suffered significant losses during the year, resulting in an average drop of 47.7%. This caused their total market cap to plummet to just $6.9 trillion by the end of the year. Nevertheless, these same stocks had an average gain of 106.6% in 2023, though not all of them have fully recovered. As a result, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 reached a record high in 2023.

• "The falling interest-rate environment has provided a huge support for the long-duration Nasdaq 100 Index," said Gary Bradshaw, a portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management in Dallas, Texas. "If you look at the fundamentals of the group, they're strong for the big-tech names and other firms in the index, which should support a further advance.”

• New York Fed President John Williams pushed back on the euphoria around the central bank easing rates next year.

• “Stocks got a major sentiment boost from Wednesday's Fed meeting, but that immediate effect was bound to wear off," said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E-Trade.