Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Advanced Micro

The Nasdaq 100 is underperforming the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrials, which both just hit new highs. It’s a very different look on the charts than the first six months of the year. Until recently, large-cap tech stocks and social media outperformed almost everything else.

One reason for the weak performance is obvious when you consider the price chart patterns of the index’s four A’s: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, and Advance Micro Devices. None of these large companies are making higher highs than some of those further down the alphabet.

Nasdaq 100 with a 4A rating:

Take a look at the daily price chart of Alphabet (formerly Google):

This major component of the Nasdaq 100, with a market capitalization of $2,013 billion, now lacks the strength to return to its early July peak, just above $190. About half of the gains from early March to the present have been given back.

Alphabet is trading below its 50-day moving average (blue line) and has been below it since mid-June. That early September drop below its 200-day moving average (red line) must have been worrisome for Wall Street fund managers who invested in the company. The stock has since rebounded, but still.

Here is the daily price chart on Amazon:

Another major Nasdaq 100 name is not hitting a new high while two large-cap indexes are hitting new highs. The stock peaked in early July at $200 and fell sharply in early August. It bottomed out near $152.50, down 23% in one month.

Amazon, with a market cap of $2,010 billion, has rebounded, filled the gap and moved higher. Now, with eight closes above its downward-trending 50-day moving average, it is at $191. A sell-off in early August sent the stock below its 200-day moving average, which continues to rise.

Here is Apple’s daily price chart:

Price rose above the August high last week but remains below the early July peak. Friday’s selling volume bar (below the price chart) is the largest this year. There are now two closes above the 50-day moving average, so that could halt the downtrend.

The 200-day moving average is trending higher and has been since late May. It should be noted that unlike the two components above, the Nasdaq 100 has managed to stay above this long-term moving average. Breaking through $235 is another challenge for Apple, market capitalization $3.469 billion.

The daily price chart for Advanced Micro Devices looks like this:

This one has the weakest price chart of the ones listed here: you can see that the 50-day moving average crossed over the 200-day moving average in mid-August. The high came in early March at $225, and the stock is now trading at $155.95, down 30%.

The $252 billion semiconductor company is lagging behind the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Wall Street isn’t as excited about tech stocks as fall approaches, and money that was once reserved for the sector seems to be going elsewhere.

No artificial intelligence was used in the writing of this text.

More analysis and commentary at johnnavin.substack.com.