The chart details the weekly price returns on the Tech Check mix of single names, ETFs, and broad market benchmarks. The balanced score of 16-16 shows a higher mix of AI ecosystem names in the top quartile with the bottom quartile heavier in the software names.
The Mag 7 mix cuts across all quartiles with 3 in the top quartile (META, AAPL, TSLA), 1 in the 2nd quartile (GOOGL), 2 in the 3rd quartile (AMZN, MSFT), and 1 in the bottom tier (NVDA). The low quartile shows 6 of 8 from the software universe along with 2 semis in Micron (MU) and NVDA.
The winners show DELL at #1, Advanced Micro (AMD) at #2, Qualcomm (QCOM) at #3, and Intel (INTC) at #4, so AI-based names are still at the helm. The Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) weighed in at +1.39% in the upper end of the 2nd quartile with the Software ETF (IGV) at -2.92% for a 4.3% return differential this week. The YTD differential on SOXX vs. IGV was 79 points as of Friday. That differential was only around 1 point for the past month.
We see the Tech ETF (XLK), NASDAQ, and the tech-heavy S&P 500 hanging around the middle of this Tech Check mix this week. On a YTD basis, the broader NASDAQ and S&P 500 are modestly above the median return of this group at just under 10%. 2026 has been a game of picking winners and losers across the mix of tech broadly in semis and software. There were some very big winners in AI ecosystem names and very big losers in software. The YTD Hi-Lo return differential in this group between #1 and #32 is over 400 percentage points.
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