Big Changes Ahead For Nasdaq-100: Check Out Who Will Be In & Who Will Be Out

Last week, Nasdaq announced the annual adjustments to the Nasdaq-100 Index, adding three companies: Palantir, Microstrategy, and Axon, while removing Illumina, Super Micro Computer, and Moderna, effective before the market opens on December 23rd.

Specific market conditions show that as of press time, the three companies about to enter the Nasdaq-100 Index have collectively risen, with MicroStrategy up more than 3% pre-market, Axon up over 2.5%, and Palantir once reached a 2% gain earlier.

The three companies about to be removed from the index have collectively declined, with Illumina and Moderna down nearly 0.6%, and Super Micro Computer down more than 12%.

It should be noted that the "Nasdaq" has more than three thousand components. This index broke through the 20,000-point mark for the first time last week, setting a key milestone.

The Nasdaq-100 Index is a "selected version" of the Nasdaq Composite Index, and most of the popular Nasdaq ETFs on the market track the Nasdaq-100 Index. Therefore, when a stock is included in the index, it will receive a large amount of passive buying, and vice versa.

It should be noted that the inclusion of MicroStrategy and Palantir, as well as the removal of three companies, was expected by the market, as the year's gains for MicroStrategy and Palantir have significantly inflated their market capitalization.

As of last Friday's close, Palantir has accumulated a 343% increase year-to-date, making it the strongest-performing company in the S&P 500 Index. In comparison, Nvidia's increase was 171%, and the closest, Vistra Energy, was 279%.

Palantir has demonstrated the application of artificial intelligence technology in the software field and is expected to continue to grow at an accelerated pace as more companies seek Palantir's AI platform to test, debug, and evaluate various AI scenarios.

It should be noted that more than half of Palantir's revenue comes from government customers. According to the media, the company took on the business of the FBI, NSA, CIA, and others at its inception.

Palantir executives have mentioned that the company stands at the forefront of the world's most important issues, from the war in Ukraine to famine and monkeypox. Its CEO, Alex Karp, was also the first Western CEO to visit Ukraine and meet with Zelensky after the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

Regarding MicroStrategy, the company has made a large-scale purchase of Bitcoin, and its stock price is now highly correlated with Bitcoin. Earlier this month, the company's CEO, Michael Saylor, stated that the company's role is to be a securitized Bitcoin.

Super Micro Computer, meanwhile, has been under deep investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. In October of this year, the company's long-term cooperating auditing firm, EY, resigned and publicly expressed concerns about the company's governance structure and transparency.