Bank of America’s chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett warned on May 22 that anticipated mega-IPOs from SpaceX and OpenAI could push technology’s weighting in major equity benchmarks like the S&P 500 beyond 48%. That’s a threshold he associates with historical market bubbles.
The numbers behind the warning
SpaceX has filed its S-1, targeting a valuation north of $1.75 trillion. The company aims to raise up to $75 billion in what would be one of the largest IPOs ever, with a potential Nasdaq debut in June.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is preparing a confidential IPO filing. Its most recent private valuation hit $830 billion following a $120 billion investment round.
Hartnett drew explicit comparisons to the Roaring ’20s and the Nifty Fifty era, periods when investor enthusiasm about a narrow set of stocks created concentration levels that eventually unwound painfully.
