If the top six or seven tech companies are excluded from the S&P 500, the market would look flat to down over the past 5 years.

“This claim exaggerates the market's performance. While the top tech stocks, often called the "Magnificent Seven," have driven a disproportionate amount of the S&P 500's gains, the remaining stocks did not perform so poorly. For example, in 2023, without these seven stocks, the S&P 500's gain would have been around 10% instead of over 24%. Similarly, data for the "S&P 493" (the index ex-Magnificent Seven) shows a return of +23% in 2021. While performance was significantly lower without these companies, the cumulative return over five years would still be positive, not flat or down. Context: The claim refers to the period from roughly 2021 to early 2026. The "top six or seven tech companies" are generally understood to be the "Magnificent Seven": Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Nvidia, Meta, and Tesla. Their massive market capitalizations give them an outsized influence on the market-cap-weighted S&P 500 index.”