Nasdaq and the “Magnificent Seven”

(Edited: by Universereal/Editer, Derek Dai, per Google Finance, on 2026-Oct.-26, latest updated 2026-Oct.-26)

What Does Wall Street Represent in Modern Finance?

In modern finance, “Wall Street” has long transcended the geographical boundaries of that specific street in southern Manhattan, New York, becoming synonymous with global financial capital, wealth, power, and the U.S. financial services industry.

Its core symbolic meanings primarily include the following aspects:

Core Hub of Global Capital Markets: Wall Street represents a vast financial ecosystem comprising the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), major investment banks, hedge funds, and mutual funds. It is the command center for global capital flows, corporate financing, and derivatives trading.
Symbol of Traditional Finance and Elitism: Unlike “Silicon Valley,” which represents high technology, innovation, and venture capital, Wall Street typically represents a highly specialized, elite, and high-risk, high-return traditional financial system.
Weather Vane for Economic Policy and Market Confidence: Whenever the media mentions “Wall Street’s reaction to a certain policy,” it represents the collective attitude of global institutional investors, analysts, and fund managers. Every flutter there directly impacts the asset allocation of ordinary global investors.

Why Did Nasdaq Choose to Locate Its Headquarters in Times Square Instead of Wall Street?

Nasdaq does not have major office locations on the traditional street known as “Wall Street.”

Its headquarters and iconic media center (Nasdaq MarketSite) are located at 4 Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York. Because Nasdaq is a fully electronic exchange, from its inception it did not establish a physical trading floor in the Financial District (near Wall Street) where traders could shout slogans for face-to-face trading like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Since its birth in 1971 as the world’s first fully electronic stock exchange, all stock buy and sell orders have been automatically matched and settled through a global network of high-speed computers and data centers.

Although it lacks a physical trading floor, it has two iconic related locations:

Headquarters and Media Center: The “Nasdaq MarketSite” located in Times Square, Manhattan, New York. It features famous giant LED screens typically used to host IPO bell-ringing ceremonies.
Core Data Center: The servers and network equipment that actually process massive trading orders are located in the data center in Carteret, New Jersey, USA.

Reasons for Choosing Times Square Over Wall Street

Nasdaq chose to locate its headquarters and iconic center in Times Square rather than Wall Street primarily to highlight its modern technological attributes and attract the public and innovative tech companies through a high-profile media image.

Below are the core reasons behind this choice:

Breaking the Stuffy Image of Traditional Finance: Wall Street represents traditional, conservative brick-and-mortar banks and century-old institutions. As the world’s first fully electronic exchange, Nasdaq wanted to build a cutting-edge, tech-forward, and futuristic new brand image.
Ultimate Global Advertising Effect: In late 1999, Nasdaq built the famous “MarketSite” circular giant LED screen in Times Square, known as the “Crossroads of the World.” Attracting tens of millions of global tourists annually, any company listed on Nasdaq has its bell-ringing ceremony and brand rolled out 24/7 on the massive screen, providing newly listed enterprises with unparalleled exposure that Wall Street cannot match.
Confidence in Technology and Digitization: Because all of Nasdaq’s trades are processed via servers at the data center in Carteret, New Jersey, it does not need to rely on geographical proximity to Wall Street to accelerate paper orders or manual trade transmissions. Consequently, its office location can be chosen more freely in the nation’s most iconic commercial and entertainment hub.

This strategy of combining finance with modern high-tech and media traffic has successfully made Nasdaq the primary listing choice for innovative giants such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Nasdaq 100 vs. Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index (NDXT)

Nasdaq 100 Index (NASDAQ 100): A comprehensive index containing the 100 largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq exchange. Although tech stocks account for the vast majority of its weight (about 60% to 70%), it also includes companies in consumer, healthcare, and industrial sectors such as PepsiCo and Costco.
Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index (NDXT): A pure-play technology industry index. It is a selective index derived specifically from the constituents of the Nasdaq 100 index that are classified within the “technology sector” (such as Microsoft, NVIDIA, Apple, etc.). It completely excludes non-tech consumer and industrial stocks.

In short, the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index is a “purified” version of the “pure tech stocks” within the Nasdaq 100 index.

The volatility of the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index (NDXT) is typically higher than that of the Nasdaq 100 Index (NASDAQ 100). This is primarily due to the following two reasons:

Extremely High Industry Concentration: The NDXT excludes defensive sectors such as consumer goods, healthcare, and industries, placing a concentrated bet entirely on pure tech fields like software, hardware, and semiconductors. When the tech sector experiences a collective pullback or negative news, the index lacks hedging protection from other industries.
High Valuation and High Growth Attributes: Pure tech stocks are often accompanied by higher price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios and market expectations. Such stocks are extremely sensitive to macroeconomic conditions, interest rate trends, and corporate earnings reports (such as this week’s tech giant earnings), making them more prone to violent stock price fluctuations.

By contrast, because the Nasdaq 100 Index includes financially robust non-tech blue chips like Costco and PepsiCo, it can act as a “safety cushion” to buffer some downside pressure during market volatility.

U.S. Tech Giants: The “Magnificent Seven”

U.S. tech giants typically refer to top-tier technology companies that hold dominant market positions and extremely high market capitalization. In the past, people commonly used FAANG to refer to them, but now they are more frequently called the “Magnificent Seven”, including the following seven companies:

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)
NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Alphabet / Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
Meta / Facebook (NASDAQ:META)
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

These companies lead the global market in core technology fields such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, smartphones, online advertising, e-commerce, and electric vehicles.

Magnificent Seven Market Performance Snapshot

Ticker	Company	Trend	Change ($)	Change (%)	Market Cap
AAPL	Apple	↓	-$3.82	-1.10%	$5.02 Trillion
AMZN	Amazon	↑	+$1.09	+0.44%	$2.69 Trillion
GOOGL	Alphabet	↓	-$3.41	-1.06%	$3.86 Trillion
META	Meta	↓	-$12.06	-1.88%	$1.61 Trillion
MSFT	Microsoft	↑	+$8.09	+1.54%	$3.96 Trillion
NVDA	NVIDIA	↑	+$5.04	+2.39%	$5.21 Trillion
TSLA	Tesla	↑	+$19.40	+5.21%	$1.55 Trillion

Tech Earnings Season Schedule

Most U.S. tech companies release their earnings reports at the end of the first month following the close of each calendar quarter (i.e., the subsequent month). The specific schedule pattern is as follows:

Q1 (Jan–Mar): Disclosed in late April.
Q2 (Apr–Jun): Disclosed in late July.
Q3 (Jul–Sep): Disclosed in late October (which is this week).
Q4 (Oct–Dec): Disclosed in late January of the following year.

Note: A small number of companies have fiscal years that do not align with the calendar year. For example, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) release financial results during these time periods, but the “fiscal quarter” designations referred to in their reports may differ.

This Week’s Earnings Schedule (Week of October 26, 2026)

This week (October 26 to October 30, 2026), U.S. tech giants will usher in an intensive release of earnings reports. Below is the most anticipated heavy-hitting tech earnings schedule for this week:

Wednesday (October 28) After Market Close:
- Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
- Alphabet / Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL)
Thursday (October 29) After Market Close:
- Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN)
- Intel (NASDAQ:INTC)

Earnings Week Stock Performance Snapshot

Ticker	Company	Price	Change ($)	Change (%)	Previous Close
MSFT	Microsoft	$532.60	+$23.38	+4.59%	$524.51
GOOGL	Alphabet	$316.80	-$25.95	-7.57%	$320.21
AMZN	Amazon	$249.09	+$2.94	+1.19%	$248.00
INTC	Intel	$90.47	-$25.56	-22.03%	$86.96

How to Check a Company’s Specific Earnings Release Date

You can check a company’s specific earnings release date through the following most common and reliable channels:

Google Finance: Enter the company name or stock ticker in the search bar (e.g., NASDAQ:GOOGL). In the “Key statistics” or “About” section of the individual stock details page, the expected release date of the next earnings report is usually displayed directly.
Company Official Investor Relations (IR) Page: This is the most authoritative channel. Search for “[Company Name] + Investor Relations” (e.g., Apple Investor Relations), navigate to the official website, and check the “Earnings Calendar” or “Events & Presentations” section to see the official precise date and exact timing (pre-market or after-hours).
Financial Calendar Websites: Platforms such as Investing.com, Yahoo Finance, or apps of major U.S. stock brokerages (such as Futu, Tiger Brokers, Interactive Brokers, etc.) provide global earnings calendars sorted by date, allowing you to filter and view all companies releasing earnings this week or month.

Potential Impact of This Week’s Tech Earnings on Indices

The intensive earnings reports disclosed by U.S. tech giants this week (such as Microsoft, Google, and Amazon) have a pivotal and decisive impact on both the Nasdaq 100 Index and the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index:

Larger Shockwave on the Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index: Because this index is a “purified” version of pure tech stocks completely lacking hedges from consumer and defensive sectors, any AI capital expenditures exceeding expectations or monetization falling short of expectations that triggers a tech sell-off will cause this index to suffer deeper declines. Conversely, if earnings significantly beat expectations, its rebound strength typically outperforms the broader market.
Relative Resilience of the Nasdaq 100 Index: The Nasdaq 100 Index includes non-tech blue chips like Costco and PepsiCo. If tech stocks experience violent fluctuations due to earnings this week, these financially sound consumer and industrial constituent stocks will act as a “safety cushion” to buffer part of the downside pressure.
“Litmus Test” for AI Monetization Capabilities: Wall Street is currently intensely focused on whether the massive investments made by tech giants in artificial intelligence (AI) can translate into actual revenue growth. The earnings results will directly reshape market confidence in tech stock valuations and determine the overall trend direction of both indices in the fourth quarter of 2026.

What Is the Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Valuation of Tech Stocks?

The price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio valuation of tech stocks is a core financial metric used to measure whether a tech company’s stock price is reasonable relative to its earnings per share (EPS).

Its basic calculation formula is:

$\text{P/E Ratio} = \frac{\text{Stock Price}}{\text{Earnings Per Share (EPS)}}$ P/E Ratio=Earnings Per Share (EPS)Stock Price

Put simply, it represents how many dollars investors are willing to pay in stock premium to earn $1 of the company’s profit.

When evaluating tech stocks, P/E valuations typically exhibit the following prominent characteristics:

Generally High (High Valuation): Because tech stocks (such as NVIDIA and Microsoft) typically feature high growth, high gross margins, and industry monopoly potential, Wall Street is willing to pay a higher premium for their future profit growth, causing their P/E ratios to be significantly higher than traditional industries (such as banking or energy).
Forward P/E is More Crucial: The tech industry changes extremely rapidly. Compared to trailing P/E ratios that reflect past performance, investors place more value on “forward P/E ratios” based on profit forecasts for the next 12 months. If a company achieves explosive growth due to new technologies like artificial intelligence, even if its current P/E is high, its forward P/E can decline rapidly.
Inapplicable to Early-Stage Tech Stocks: Many start-up or fast-expanding tech companies (such as Tesla in its early days) channel all funds into R&D and market capture, resulting in negative profits (negative EPS). In such cases, the P/E ratio loses its reference value, and investors typically switch to using the price-to-sales (P/S) ratio ( $\text{Price} \div \text{Revenue}$ Price÷Revenue) for valuation.