A new tech boom – or a bubble?

The S&P 500 Information Technology index hit an all-time high last week. Are we in bubble territory, asks Alex Rankine.

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The S&P 500 Information Technology index hit an all-time high last week, surpassing its previous record set at the height of the dotcom bubble. The index, which tracks the performance of large-cap US tech firms such as Facebook, Microsoft and Alphabet, the parent of Google, edged above the peak of 988.49 achieved on 27 March 2000. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which passed its bubble-era peak more than two years ago, also reached new highs earlier this week ahead of forthcoming earnings reports from several tech giants. US tech stocks have outperformed the broader market so far this year, gaining 23% compared with the S&P 500's 10% rise.

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Markets editor

Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019. 

Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere. 

He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful. 

Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.