Magnificent 7 stocks are down for 2 reasons in 2026. The second reason is outside their control

The new year has so far not been kind to the share price of Big Tech stocks, particularly the so-called Magnificent 7. These seven companies—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla—are America’s tech crown jewels. 

Combined, they have their hands in the hottest areas of tech, including artificial intelligence, mobile computing, chipmaking, and transportation. Yet all of these tech companies have seen their share prices decline since the beginning of the year. Here are some possible reasons why.

The Magnificent 7 is seeing red in 2026

As of this writing, there isn’t a single Magnificent 7 stock in the green for 2026. Their year-to-date returns are as follows:

• Alphabet Inc. (Nasdaq: GOOG): down 3.3%
• Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN): down 13.5%
• Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL): down 4.8%
• Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) down 2.7%
• Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT): down 17.4 %
• Nvidia Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA): down 1.6%
• Tesla, Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA): down 8.2%

While all seven companies have their own strengths (Amazon, e-commerce; Nvidia, AI chips; Apple, smartphones, etc.), they share one thread: they are traded on the already tech-heavy Nasdaq. 

And given the massive market caps of these companies, all seven have an outsized impact on the Nasdaq as a whole. Keeping that in mind, it’s little surprise that the NASDAQ Composite itself is down over 3% year to date as well.

The question is why? Here are two of the most likely reasons.

AI capex spend is immense

In the business world, capex refers to a company’s capital expenditure—how much money a business spends on building out assets in order to grow its business, and thus its finances.

Capex is why the phrase “you have to spend money to make money” exists. But while it has been normal for decades for tech giants to spend billions in capex per year, lately capital expenditures are exploding—reaching highs never seen before.

The Motley Fool estimated that in 2025, the Magnificent 7 spent about $400 billion on AI-related capex. In 2026, that number is set to grow by around 70% to reach $680 billion. That is a staggering sum of money on a technology that no tech company has found a way to make a profit from yet.

What many investors have begun to increasingly worry about is that if the ever-present threat of an AI bubble does materialize, the Magnificent 7 companies, particularly those that have had massive capital expenditures on the technology, like Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft, might not ever see a return on that investment.

Economic and global uncertainty abounds

Outside the immediate fears of overzealous AI capex and an AI bubble, the Magnificent 7 are also vulnerable to broader economic and geopolitical uncertainties. 

President Trump’s penchant for announcing tariffs out of the blue has harmed relations with America’s closest economic allies and trading partners—and caused massive uncertainty for businesses. These tariffs have also raised the costs of goods for American consumers. When prices rise, and incomes don’t, people tend to cut back on spending, which slows the economy.

And when the economy slows—or people worry it will—investors tend to sell off riskier investments, or investments where they’ve already made a good return, to protect their profits. While shares of Magnificent 7 companies have delivered massive returns over the last decade, they are also highly volatile. And this volatility, when combined with broader market uncertainty, generally causes investor apprehension, leading to further selloffs.

Of course, there’s no guarantee where Mag 7 stocks go from here. If AI bulls are right and we are on the cusp of unprecedented AI prosperity, it’s reasonable to assume that the fall in Mag 7 stocks at the start of 2026 has so far just been a temporary anomaly, and AI-related stocks like those in the Mag 7 will be seeing plenty of green in the years ahead.

However, if the AI bubble does indeed burst and takes the broader economy down with it, 2026 year-to-date declines in Mag 7 stock prices so far could seem relatively minor compared to what is yet to come.