Chart of the Day - Friday, May 8th, 2020

Today’s Chart of the Day was shared on Twitter by Clarence Carr (@ClarenceCarr). The dismal economic backdrop has many scratching their heads, wondering - Why aren’t stocks down more? The answer to that question requires a more in-depth look within the S&P 500. After all, it’s a market of stocks, not a stock market, right? There’s a clear bifurcation going on within the S&P 500 right now. The five largest stocks in the S&P 500, FAAMG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google) are screaming to new highs, while the rest of the components in the index struggle. FAAMG (in blue) is up 49% since January 2018, while the rest of the S&P 500 (in orange) is down about 46% over the same period. This “tale of two markets” has left the S&P 500, as a whole, virtually unchanged over the past two and a half years.