8/26/2020

Headline, August 27 2020/ ''' THE ECONOMICS TAB '''


''' THE ECONOMICS

 TAB '''




THE STOCKS OF APPLE - AMAZON - ALPHABET - MICROSOFT AND FACEBOOK - the five largest publicly traded companies in America rose 37 percent in the first seven months this year, -while all the other stocks in the S&P 500 fell a combined 6 percent, according to Credit Suisse. 

American tech giants flew high before the coronavirus pandemic, making billions of dollars a year. Now, the upheaval has lifted them to new heights, putting the industry in a position to dominate American business in a way unseen since the days of railroads.

A rally in technology stocks elevated the S&P 500 stock index to a record high last Tuesday, even as the pandemic crushed the broader economy.

Those five companies now constitute 20 percent of stock markets total worth, a level not seen from a single industry in at least 70 years. Apple's stock market value, the highest of the bunch, reached $2 trillion last Wednesday - double what it was just 21 weeks ago.

The tech companies dominance of the stock market is propelled by their unprecedented reach into our lives, shaping how we work, communicate, shop and relax. That has only deepened during the pandemic, and as people shop more frequently on Amazon, click on a Google or Facebook ad or pay up for an iPhone, the companies receive a greater share of spending in the economy and earn ever larger profits.

This is why investors have flocked to those stocks this year at the expense of the scores of companies struggling in the health crisis, and are betting that their position will be unassailable for years.

''Covid was the perfect positive storm for these guys,'' said Thomas Philippon, a professor of finance at New York State University.

The companies deeper encroachment into American lives can be seen in web traffic numbers for Alphabet, Facebook and Amazon, which own the four most visited  sites in the country.

The traffic on these sites was immense before the pandemic, but daily visitors increased sharply in March, when stay-at-home orders began, with Facebook up 15 percent and YouTube 10 percent, according to Similar Web, an online data provider.

The web traffic has held steady at the higher plateau, with more than 1 billion daily visits to the big four sites in the United States alone. And the same pattern is evident worldwide, Facebook reported that the number of daily users of its services globally in June was 12 percent higher than a year earlier.

Amazon's business, already towering over competitors in e-commerce and cloud computing, has become even more important to businesses and households. Its stock is up over 50 percent from its pre-pandemic high, underscoring just how much investors think they have benefited from the disruption.

Critics say the companies have grown in part because of a range of anticompetitive practices. European regulators are investigating whether Apple's App Store breaks competition rules.

American regulators are looking at whether large tech firms committed antitrust abuses when acquiring other companies. Some antitrust scholars believe the rise of industry-dominating companies has led to stagnant wages and increased inequality.

The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Markets, Investors and Times,  continues. The World Students Society thanks authors Peter Evis and Steve Lohr.

With respectful dedication to the Tech Giants, Investors and Markets, and then Students, Professors  and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

''' Half - Past '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless

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