The Maverick of Wall Street: This Is the Unhealthiest Stock Market Rally in History
Stocks continued higher over the past week, with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hitting new all-time highs. However, while the headline numbers have been ticking higher, behind the scenes, danger is emerging.
That’s because the market rally is being driven by just a small number of companies. In Wall Street speak, that’s known as market concentration. And market concentration has now become worse than compared to the tech bubble.
For 2024 alone, Nvidia (NVDA) has been responsible for 32% of the S&P 500’s entire rally. And if you add in the next two mega-cap tech companies, add another 13% to that total.
Meanwhile, the lowest 400 stocks of the S&P 500 have been negative this year, on average. That’s an unhealthy sign.
In a healthy market, most stocks will rise when the index rises. Backing out the tech giants, one could even argue that we’re not even in a bull market. And, we haven’t been since the end of 2021, over two and a half years ago.
If the big tech names take a hit, the overall market could easily reverse. And today’s all-time highs could quickly turn the other way.
As the old Wall Street saying goes, they don’t ring a bell at the top. But there are signs. And massive concentration masking a potential bear market already is one of them.