Tech leads first half stock gains — but the biggest winners weren't in the U.S.

CNBC July 01, 2026 1 views

The tech sector was a major outperformer in the first half of the year, despite AI jitters sparking bouts of volatility.
But American tech broadly underperformed its international counterparts.
The tech sector emerged as a clear winner in the first half of 2026. But while U.S. Big Tech stocks enjoyed strong gains — despite
a sharp sell-off at the end of June — they were largely outperformed by their international counterparts.
Of MSCI's sector-specific indexes, the index covering large and mid-cap emerging markets technology stocks was the best performer in the first six months of the year, with a gain of more than 90%.
Its European counterpart added 44.8%, while the U.S. version gained 19.4%.
The trend was also visible across other parts of the market. The pan-European
Stoxx 600 Technology index jumped 23.4% between January and June, compared with the S&P 500 Information Technology index's 19.4% increase.
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<small>Source: CNBC</small>

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