TECHNO GIANTS TEETER

ARE TECH TITANS teetering atop the market? .............

Silicon Valley giants have become a gargantuan  forces on Wall Street, as demonstrated by Apple recently topping $1 trillion in stock-market valuation.

But should we fear and worry that a new tech bubble is ready to burst?  Well, here are some questions and answers about the sector:

1. What does the tech sector represent on Wall Street?
Apple ended the formal trading week with a historic rise $1 trillion. Meanwhile four other tech firms rounded out a list of  the  five most valuable companies based on share prices.

Amazon was worth  $889 billion, Google-parent Alphabet was valued at $856 billion; Microsoft weighed in at $828 billion, and could Facebook was valued at $513 billion.

Together, these companies account for about 20 percent of US GDP, and more than Germany's GDP.

Combined, the tech stocks account for more than 25 percent of the value of Standard & Poor's 500, index that includes the 500 largest companies listed in the United States.

2. Is this market domination troubling?
At the end of 1999, a few months before the infamous dot.com Internet bubble burst, the five five biggest companies on the stock market [Microsoft, General Electric Cisco, Walmart and Intel]  accounted for 15.5% of US GDP, AJ Bell Investment recalled in a note.

''Anyone who owned these stocks at the  market top suffered  some serious  portfolio pain, Mould said.

''They lost money on those  five names  for the next decade.''

He made it clear he was not predicting market woes for ''FAANG'' stocks - those of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google.

''However, it does warn against the dangers of blindly assuming  that what is working now will work forever and that paying any price for a stock will be rewarded,'' Mould said.

Nate Thooft of Manulife Asset Management told AFP  that there was ''no shortage of arguments'' on why shares in those companies  would continue to do well, but he saw wisdom in reducing ''exposure a bit'' to reduce risk.

The honor and serving of the latest Global Operational Research on Markets and Tech Giants continue.