What's going on?

A 3% rise in February means US stocks are enjoying their best start to a year since 1987. Tech companies are largely to thank � but not the ones you might expect� (tweet this)

What does this mean?

The rising tide of an imminent trade deal between the US and China helped lift most stocks� boats, including industrials companies previously caught in the trade war crossfire. These were the second-best-performing stocks in February (rising 6%, according to FactSet), but in first place came information technology stocks including the likes of PayPal and Visa. Last year�s MVPs � the truly monster tech FAANG stocks � rose just 1% in February on average.

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: More fuel for the fire.

It�s not just stocks having a strong 2019: the price of a barrel of oil has risen over 30%, making up much of its losses late last year. Investors had been worried that OPEC was producing too much oil � but the major group of oil-producing nations eventually agreed to limit output. And demand for the black gold�s set to increase, especially with the US releasing higher-than-expected fourth-quarter economic growth figures on Thursday, albeit well below mid-2018 levels.

For markets: The information on technology stocks.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs doesn�t expect stocks to do much more for investors over the next 12 months, predicting 10% returns in the US, 6% in Asia, and 5% in Europe. But it does agree with investors buying information technology stocks, noting in a report this week that technology represents 28% of all business investment in the US � and that this figure’s likely to grow. Furthermore, the shift to subscription-based business models means tech companies� earnings are getting more predictable. But not, perhaps, HP�s: shares fell 16% on Thursday after the company lowered its annual sales forecast. Hedge funds may have foreseen HP�s weakness: they reduced their stakes last quarter, according to TipRanks data.