Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook Enter the Scene
They are the companies whose names are part of the daily lives of consumers.
It is almost impossible to escape them in many daily economic activities.
They are in the top 10 of the most valuable companies in the world and are multinationals present in hundreds of countries around the world. Between the five tech giants, their worth is $7.6 trillion in market cap. Suffice to say that their weight in the economy is enormous.
At a time when investors are wondering if the economy will experience a hard landing, in other words, will enter into recession in the coming months due to inflation at its highest level in 40 years and a policy of raising interest rates at the Federal Reserve, these companies can give the temperature of the economic machine.
The companies in order of market capitalization include Apple (AAPL) – Get Apple Inc. Report ($2.5 trillion at the time of writing), Microsoft (MSFT) – Get Microsoft Corporation Report ($1.95 trillion), Alphabet (GOOGL) – Get Alphabet Inc. Report, parent company of Google, ($1.42 trillion), Amazon (AMZN) – Get Amazon.com Inc. Report ($1.25 trillion) and social media giant Meta Platforms (META) – Get Meta Platforms Inc. Report, parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp ($458 billion). Some of them have already given a taste of what is to come by freezing hiring and removing job listings.
How Bad Is the Economy?
Coincidence or not, the GAFAM, as they are often nicknamed, publishes their quarterly results this week. These results, but especially the comments of their leaders on the health of the economy, are eagerly awaited. Investors’ questions are many, but if we could only retain two, it would be: have consumers started to reduce their spending? Have companies started to suspend their investments and reduce their marketing budgets?
Software giant Microsoft will open the ball on July 26. The activities of the Redmond group in Washington state affect both businesses (cloud with Azure, computer security) and consumers (Xbox consoles, video games, Windows software, Office). The firm recently announced cost-cutting measures, such as layoffs, whose message was clear: Microsoft is preparing for a difficult period ahead.
The…
