Nasdaq and the markets - FT.com Technical analysts, market psychologists, and other practitioners of the financial black arts are having a busy winter. One supposedly significant milestone after another falls: Dow 13,000, the Nasdaq's 2007 high, Apple's $500bn valuation. But there is a non-voodoo message here too - that we've simply had a serious rally. A little reflection would not hurt. What we make of this latest burst of prosperity depends heavily on how it is measured, and it pays to avoid complexity. So take a highly liquid and transparent group of companies from a range of industries: the 50 biggest US companies by market capitalisation. The members of this sample have added $1.2tn in market cap since many indices bottomed on October 3 last year, a 23 per cent gain, according to Capital IQ. The gains have been very evenly spread. Yes, Apple is a large contributor, but strike it out and the remaining 49 are still up 22 per cent. Only one of these 50 companies has not notched up gains during the rally: Amazon, burdened with both a dizzying valuation and declining margins. And the best performers of the 50 are diverse. The likes of Citigroup, Comcast, Occidental Petroleum, Walt Disney and Home Depot have risen by over 40 per cent. If one sector stands out, it is the banks - the six in the sample grew their market caps more, in aggregate ($167bn) than Apple did ($150bn). The underperformers have more in common. They are mostly defensive stocks. Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Bristol-Myers Squibb all had single-digit percentage gains. They would have lagged behind even if their performances were adjusted to include their considerable dividends. If holders of these sedate names are feeling regret, it will probably be replaced by a sense of relief if the winter of our market content is made unglorious summer.