Interestingly, the trio are American based Technological service providing organization

According to the United Nation Organization, there are 54 countries in Africa today, home to 1.39 billion people but with $3.1 trillion GDP.

Microsoft Corporation, an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington, boasts of 3.16 trillion USD Market capitalization.

Microsoft’s best-known software products are the Windows line of operating systems, the Microsoft 365 suite of productivity applications. Apple Inc  also  has 2.98 trillion USD Market capitalization.

Apple is also an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, in Silicon Valley.

It designs, develops, and sells consumer electronics, computer software, and online

More profoundly, Nvidia (NVDA), a software and fabless company, also based in America, two days ago hit a market capitalization of $3 trillion becoming the third U.S. company to do so after Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). Nvidia stock has been on a tear lately.

Nvidia reached the $3 trillion milestone just 66 trading days after notching a $2 trillion value.

By contrast, it took Apple and Microsoft 719 and 650 trading days, respectively, to climb from $2 trillion to $3 trillion, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Nvidia is a software and fabless company which designs and supplies graphics processing units (GPUs), application programming interfaces (APIs) for data science and high-performance computing, as well as system on a chip units (SoCs) for the mobile computing and automotive market.

But what does GDP implies?

The Gross domestic product (GDP), GDP, is the total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a specific time period.

As a broad measure of overall domestic production, it functions as a comprehensive scorecard of a given country’s economic health.

It can also be said to be the most common measure for the size of an economy, and it measures the value of total final output of goods and services produced by that economy in a certain period of time.

On the other side, market capitalization, or “market cap,” represents the total dollar market value of a company’s outstanding shares of stock. Investors use this figure to determine a company’s size instead of sales or total asset value. In an acquisition, the market cap helps determine whether a takeover candidate represents a good value for the acquirer.

Earlier in  February this year, Nasdaq in its  analysis theme “Zacks Earnings Trends Highlights: Tesla, Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia” noted that the quarterly results from the Magnificent 7 companies reconfirm why these companies have been market leaders over the past year. Except for Tesla TSLA, each of the other 6 companies has a market capitalization in excess of a trillion dollars, with Microsoft MSFT at more than $3 trillion and Apple AAPL right in that vicinity. But it isn’t just their size; they are very profitable and still enjoying plenty of growth.

Accordingly, it noted that “We still have Nvidia’s NVDA report to come, but combining estimates for Nvidia with the actual results for the other 6 members of the group, total Mag 7 earnings for Q4 are on track to increase +48.5% from the same period last year on +14.5% higher revenues, which would follow the group’s +54.2% higher earnings on +12.9% higher revenues in 2023 Q3.

“The Mag 7 companies combined are on track to account for 23% of all S&P 500 earnings in Q4; they account for 29.3% of the index’s total market capitalization. Had these 7 stocks been a sector, they would have the second biggest weight in the S&P 500 index, behind the Tech sector, which currently accounts for 37.3%. The Finance sector, which at one time was the biggest sector in the index, currently accounts for 12%.

Importantly, the Mag 7 earnings outlook is steadily improving. The +30.4% earnings growth expected for the group in 2024 Q1 is up from +25.7% last week, with estimates for the following quarters also going up.

Beyond Mag 7, Q4 earnings for the S&P 500 index are currently expected to be up +4.9% above the year-earlier period on +3.1% higher revenues. This would follow the +3.8% increase in index earnings in 2023 Q3 on +2.3% higher revenues.

Meanwhile African countries or Africa as a whole has abundant natural resources, but much of its economy has remained predominantly agricultural, and subsistence farming still engages more than 60 percent of the population.

According to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook, South Africa with a GDP of $373 bn, is  solidifying its status as Africa’s most industrialized economy, followed by Egypt, Egypt commands a GDP of $347 bn, leveraging its strategic geographical position as a bridge between Africa and the Middle East.

Historically, Egypt has served as a pivotal hub for trade and commerce. Its economy thrives on a robust tourism sector, agriculture, manufacturing, and a burgeoning ICT industry, cementing its significance in the regional and global economic arena.

Others are; Algeria, Algeria has a GDP of $266 bn, primarily fueled by its abundant natural resources, notably oil and gas, which drive its economy through hydrocarbon exports.

Nigeria often hailed as the “Giant of Africa,” holds the fourth position on the list, and has a GDP of $252 billion.

With its expansive population and rich endowment of natural resources, particularly oil, Nigeria harbours the potential to ascend as one of the globe’s foremost economies. Ethiopia. Ethiopia commands a GDP totalling $205 bn.

Morocco with a GDP of $152 bn, Kenya  boast of  a GDP of $104 bn, Angola has a GDP totalling $92 bn, Cote D’IvoireCote D’Ivoire has a GDP of $86 bn, while Tanzania concludes the list with a GDP totalling $79 bn.

These already implies that all FUGAZ (First Bank, UBA, Access Holdings (Access Bank), and GTCO (GTBank) have now crossed the 1 trillion market capitalization for the first time.

Yesterday (Tuesday), AccessCorp and FBNH gained about N82bn and N93bn each to join the N1tn club bringing their market cap to N1.055tn and N1.026tn respectively. Earlier in December, FBNH had crossed the N1tn market cap mark but dropped by the next trading session. UBA, which entered the elite club with N1.022tn, appreciated to N1.114tn at the close of Tuesday’s trading.

Previously, Zenith Bank and GTCO were the only banking members of the SWOOT category, which is used to describe stocks worth over N1 trillion trading on the NGX. However, other banking stocks such as Stanbic IBTC and FBNH had previously made a brief foray into this category.

By crossing the N1trillion market capitalization level yesterday, (Tuesday), Access Holdings (ACCESSCORP), the parent group of Access Bank, as its stock rose by 8.39% to close at N29.70, thus taking the bank’s market capitalization to N1.056 trillion

Also, FBN Holdings rebounded to its highest level since December 6, 2023, as its stock appreciated by 10%, reaching a market cap of N1.027 trillion. The older members of the SWOOT category, such as: GTCO and Zenith Bank, closed trading on January 9 with a market cap of N1.42 trillion and N1.49 trillion, respectively.

It implies that in just six days of active trading on the floor of Nigeria Exchange, the NGX has appreciated by about 11.26%. However, the tier-1 banks have achieved even more remarkable returns in 2024.

Year to date, ACCESSCORP has gained 28.3%, FBNH has gained 21.4%, GTCO has gained 19%, UBA has gained 27.1%, and ZENITHBANK has gained 22.5%.