Tech Investors Rise During Pandemic

Despite surging unemployment and economic uncertainty surrounding the devastating consequences of COVID-19 lockdowns, the stock market is continuing to recover at a rapid pace. Data shows that new investors in S&P 500 tech stocks may be part of the reason why.

According to data from Goldman Sachs compiled by the Wall Street Journal, new user positions in the popular stock trading app Robinhood have tripled since the beginning of March – right when COVID-19 restrictions began.

As of May 14, there were over 12 million user positions in the S&P 550, with many put into tech companies. Many tech stocks are outperforming the S&P 500 during the second quarter of 2020, with the Big Four – Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook – all outperforming the S&P 500.

Overall, as of June 8, the S&P 500 is down just 1.1 percent on the year, having already made up the sharp decline suffered during the beginning of COVID-19 restrictions in march.