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The Magnificent Seven Are Looking Less Magnificent Lately

MarketDash Editorial Team
3 hours ago
The mega-cap tech giants that powered markets for three years are stumbling into 2026, with the MAGS ETF down 1.5% Wednesday as five of seven stocks drift into the red and investors rotate toward value.

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Remember when the Magnificent Seven could do no wrong? That was a nice time. This is not that time.

The Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS), which exists specifically to let you bet on all seven mega-cap tech darlings at once, dropped about 1.5% on Wednesday. It's the kind of move that makes you wonder whether we're witnessing a temporary breather or something more unsettling for the stocks that basically carried the entire market on their backs for three years straight.

Here's the uncomfortable part: five out of seven members are currently underwater for 2026. Nvidia Corp (NVDA), Apple, Inc (AAPL), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Meta Platforms, Inc (META), and Tesla Inc (TSLA) are all in the red. The only two keeping their heads above water are Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN).

So much for "unshakeable."

When The Engine Starts Sputtering

The strange part is that investors keep buying. According to data from Etfdb, MAGS has pulled in $91.25 million in inflows year-to-date, which represents a 43% jump compared to the same period last year. People are still showing up to the party, but the music isn't quite as fun anymore. Despite those inflows, the fund is down about 2.3% so far in 2026, slightly underperforming the average decline of roughly 1.6% for the group as measured by the CNBC Magnificent 7 Index.

The timing matters here. For most of the past three months, these seven stocks comfortably outpaced the equal-weighted market. Then January arrived, and that relationship just snapped. The calendar flipped, and suddenly the momentum disappeared.

The broader market is feeling it too. The S&P 500 has managed only about a 0.7% gain this year, which tells you everything about how dependent index-level performance has become on a handful of giants. These seven companies still represent more than 35% of the benchmark's total weighting. Strip away that concentration, and you get a very different story. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) is up 3.4% year-to-date. Translation: the other 493 companies are doing just fine, thank you very much.

Value's Unexpected Comeback

Part of what's happening to MAGS is a straightforward rotation. Growth-heavy tech is losing ground to value, largely because the Fed isn't cutting rates as aggressively as markets had hoped. Since mid-October, the Vanguard Value ETF (VTV) has climbed about 7%, handily outperforming the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG). Investors are hunting in corners of the market they'd previously ignored, and they're finding decent returns there.

Not everyone thinks the Magnificent Seven are finished, though. With fourth-quarter earnings right around the corner, some strategists see this as a pause rather than a breakdown. Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial, argues that the recent weakness looks more like a breather than a collapse, mainly because AI-related names—many of which are in the Mag7—are still expected to drive most of the S&P 500's earnings growth for the upcoming quarter.

The AI story remains intact. AI-linked companies, including the Magnificent Seven, are forecast to power the bulk of S&P 500 earnings growth, with technology sector profits expected to jump more than 25%.

For now, though, MAGS is delivering a message investors haven't heard in quite some time: even market darlings need to catch their breath. Whether this is just a brief timeout or the beginning of something more significant remains to be seen. But after three years of dominance, a little humility might actually be healthy.

Back to Stock Market News

The Magnificent Seven Are Looking Less Magnificent Lately

MarketDash Editorial Team
3 hours ago
The mega-cap tech giants that powered markets for three years are stumbling into 2026, with the MAGS ETF down 1.5% Wednesday as five of seven stocks drift into the red and investors rotate toward value.

Get Apple Alerts

Weekly insights + SMS alerts

Remember when the Magnificent Seven could do no wrong? That was a nice time. This is not that time.

The Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS), which exists specifically to let you bet on all seven mega-cap tech darlings at once, dropped about 1.5% on Wednesday. It's the kind of move that makes you wonder whether we're witnessing a temporary breather or something more unsettling for the stocks that basically carried the entire market on their backs for three years straight.

Here's the uncomfortable part: five out of seven members are currently underwater for 2026. Nvidia Corp (NVDA), Apple, Inc (AAPL), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Meta Platforms, Inc (META), and Tesla Inc (TSLA) are all in the red. The only two keeping their heads above water are Alphabet Inc (GOOGL) and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN).

So much for "unshakeable."

When The Engine Starts Sputtering

The strange part is that investors keep buying. According to data from Etfdb, MAGS has pulled in $91.25 million in inflows year-to-date, which represents a 43% jump compared to the same period last year. People are still showing up to the party, but the music isn't quite as fun anymore. Despite those inflows, the fund is down about 2.3% so far in 2026, slightly underperforming the average decline of roughly 1.6% for the group as measured by the CNBC Magnificent 7 Index.

The timing matters here. For most of the past three months, these seven stocks comfortably outpaced the equal-weighted market. Then January arrived, and that relationship just snapped. The calendar flipped, and suddenly the momentum disappeared.

The broader market is feeling it too. The S&P 500 has managed only about a 0.7% gain this year, which tells you everything about how dependent index-level performance has become on a handful of giants. These seven companies still represent more than 35% of the benchmark's total weighting. Strip away that concentration, and you get a very different story. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) is up 3.4% year-to-date. Translation: the other 493 companies are doing just fine, thank you very much.

Value's Unexpected Comeback

Part of what's happening to MAGS is a straightforward rotation. Growth-heavy tech is losing ground to value, largely because the Fed isn't cutting rates as aggressively as markets had hoped. Since mid-October, the Vanguard Value ETF (VTV) has climbed about 7%, handily outperforming the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG). Investors are hunting in corners of the market they'd previously ignored, and they're finding decent returns there.

Not everyone thinks the Magnificent Seven are finished, though. With fourth-quarter earnings right around the corner, some strategists see this as a pause rather than a breakdown. Jeff Buchbinder, chief equity strategist at LPL Financial, argues that the recent weakness looks more like a breather than a collapse, mainly because AI-related names—many of which are in the Mag7—are still expected to drive most of the S&P 500's earnings growth for the upcoming quarter.

The AI story remains intact. AI-linked companies, including the Magnificent Seven, are forecast to power the bulk of S&P 500 earnings growth, with technology sector profits expected to jump more than 25%.

For now, though, MAGS is delivering a message investors haven't heard in quite some time: even market darlings need to catch their breath. Whether this is just a brief timeout or the beginning of something more significant remains to be seen. But after three years of dominance, a little humility might actually be healthy.