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A Peloton stationary bike.
Scott Heins / Getty Images
While many investors were watching closely
Tesla‘s
first days in the
S&P 500
—Shares have fallen 7% so far this week – changes in another pre-eminent stock index were largely under the radar.
Last Friday, six new members joined
Nasdaq Index 100,
tracks the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Exchange, including some of the most innovative and fastest-growing companies in the world, such as
Amazon.com
(ticker: AMZN),
apple
(AAPL) i
Microsoft
(MSFT).
The index has risen 45% to date, more than triple the 14% of the S&P 500.
Utility giant
American electricity
(AEP) is now part of the Nasdaq 100 after trading the New York Stock Exchange on the Nasdaq. Another new member is
Party group
(MTCH), which has some of the most popular online dating apps like Match, Tinder and Hinge. The company went public in July as a derivative of its holding company Interactive Group, and shares have already risen 47% since last Friday.
Home fitness company
Peloton Interactive
(PTON) has also joined the Nasdaq 100. Shares took a wild leap in 2020, up 392% since last Friday, as the Covid-19 pandemic changed the way people work and increased significantly the demand for home fitness solutions. Shares jumped another 16% this week after joining the Nasdaq 100.
The other three newcomers to the Nasdaq 100 are chip makers
Marvel Technologies
(MRVL), cloud cybersecurity company
Okta
(OKTA), and software company
Atlassian
(TEAM). As of last Friday, all three shares have gained 79%, 136% and 106%, respectively, so far. Their growing size has elevated them to the site of the 100 largest non-financial stocks on the Nasdaq Exchange.
While these companies joined the Nasdaq 100, six have been kicked out of the index. They are
BioMarin Pharmaceutical
(BMRN),
Citrix systems
(CTXS),
Expedia
(EXPE),
Liberty Global
(LBTYA and LBTYK),
Take two interactives
(TTWO) i
Ulta Beauty
(ULTA).
These changes have been reflected in the $ 149 billion
Invesco QQQ Trust
(QQQ) which tracks the Nasdaq 100 index. The stock market has been a popular choice for many investors and traders. As the fifth largest ETF in the United States, its assets have multiplied sixfold in the last decade due to strong investor interest and the rapid appreciation of its holdings. In 2020 alone, the fund received more than $ 19 billion in net income.
In October,
Invesco
launched a cheaper version of QQQ with the same exposure to stocks: the Invesco
Nasdaq 100 ETF
(QQQM), where M represents mini. While the original QQQ Trust is currently trading at around $ 310 per share and charges an expense ratio of 0.20%, the new Invesco Nasdaq 100 is priced at just $ 127 per share and costs 0.05 percentage points less.
Because QQQ is one of the most liquid ETFs in the United States with a difference of only a penny between bids and offers, many short-term traders could continue to use it to make profits with low commercial costs. The recently launched QQQM, with lower stock prices and commissions, would be a better option for long-term investors who commit and maintain less liquidity and the trading spread. The fund has already amassed $ 344 million in assets just two months after its launch in October.
Write to Evie Liu to [email protected]