2026 First Quarter Investment Market Report

The author says all Magnificent Seven stocks had a challenging first quarter and underperformed the S&P 500; Microsoft Corp returned -23.27% in Q1 2026 and -7.85% since the Iran conflict.

“In fact, all of the “Mag 7” stocks had a very challenging first quarter as they all underperformed the S&P 500 despite accounting for about one-third of its market value. The rest of the index, often called the “S&P 493” clearly outperformed. …all of the “Mag 7” stocks had a very challenging first quarter as they all underperformed the S&P 500… “Mag 7” Stocks “Magnificent Seven” stock returns IndexQ1 2026Since Iran Apple Inc-6.55%-7.02% Tesla Inc-17.34%-9.01% Alphabet Inc Class A-8.06%-6.38% NVIDIA Corp-6.48%-5.67% Meta Platforms Inc Class A-13.25%-12.85% Microsoft Corp-23.27%-7.85% Amazon.com Inc.-9.77%0.17% Source: Morningstar”