Technology stocks as a whole have fared better than the broader market through the Covid-19 pandemic. This is not surprising. For starters, their businesses are more sheltered from a direct impact from the outbreak, given their mostly digital presence and small physical footprint. For instance, Netflix’s video streaming service has capitalised on the millions of captive eyeballs during the lockdown and stay-at-home period.
(May 29): Global stocks delivered another week of gains as investors cheered the reopening of economies and more positive developments on the Covid-19 vaccine front. Stock prices do appear to be running well ahead of the underlying economic — and quite possibly corporate earnings — recovery, for now. A successful vaccine will certainly accelerate the pace of normalisation.
In particular, the FAANG stocks — the popular acronym for Facebook, Amazon.com, Apple, Netflix and Google (trading under parent company, Alphabet) — have performed strongly in recent weeks, leading the US market higher. These stocks, plus Microsoft, are all trading near or at all-time record-high levels.
