Last year, the "seven sisters" in the US stock market became the biggest contributor to the rise of the US stock market, supporting the return rate of 2/3 of the S&P 500 index. Excluding the rise of the "seven sisters" in the US stock market, the closing price of the S&P 500 last year was only 4175 points.

In 2024, the "seven sisters" of US stocks will face the antitrust test, According to media reports this week, Google is embroiled in two antitrust cases. In early May, it made a closing statement on its search monopoly case, and at the beginning of the year, it accepted a lawsuit from the Department of Justice regarding advertising monopoly. The US Federal Trade Commission will take legal action against Meta over the monopoly merger. In addition, the US Department of Justice's investigation into Apple is entering its later stages, and it is expected to file a comprehensive lawsuit in the first half of the year.

Analysis suggests that antitrust rulings may directly affect the monopoly positions of Google and Meta, and weaken the ecological advantages of tech giants.

Rebecca Allensworth, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School, pointed out: "I think 2024 may be an important year for law enforcement, but progress is slow, just like in the US v. Google case.

Google is embroiled in two antitrust cases and will present its closing arguments on search monopoly in early May

The US Department of Justice will hold a trial in 2023 for the illegal monopoly of Google's search engine, but the verdict may not be reached until the end of 2024.

After two months of testimony, the non jury trial ended in November last year. US District Judge Amit Mehta stated that he did not know how to rule on the core issue of the case, "whether Google consolidated its monopoly position through illegal agreements, making its search engine the default search for Apple and other products,Google controls approximately 90% of global online searches.

Google argues that its search engine dominates because it is an excellent product that produces the most relevant search results.

Mehta has scheduled his closing arguments for early May, and if he makes a ruling against Google, he will oversee another lawsuit to determine how to restore competition in the search market. According to US antitrust laws, judges can force Google to sell some of its businesses. But some legal experts say that this approach is unlikely in this case.

Google is also preparing to accept a lawsuit from the Ministry of Justice in early 2024, which claims that Google is an illegal monopolist in the Internet advertising platform market.

The Department of Justice and some state attorneys general will file a lawsuit in January 2023. The case will be heard in the Eastern District Court of Virginia, which is known as the "Rocket Court" due to its relatively fast schedule for hearing cases. US District Judge Leonie Brinkema of Alexandria, Virginia, scheduled the pre-trial meeting for January 18th, six months earlier than the suggested time by both parties, and stated that the trial date could be announced as early as March.

It is worth mentioning that Google is currently facing more antitrust lawsuits. Previous analysis suggested that Google's defeat could disrupt the mobile application economy and ultimately result in billions of dollars in revenue losses for Google.

The US Federal Trade Commission will take legal action against Meta

The Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Meta in December 2020, and this year it may make a ruling on Meta's antitrust case.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice are jointly responsible for enforcing antitrust laws, accusing Meta of illegally disrupting competition by acquiring potential competitors such as the messaging platform WhatsApp and the image sharing app Instagram. Meta suggests that these are competitive transactions that benefit consumers.

It is worth mentioning that the progress of this case is slow. In June 2021, US District Judge James Boasberg dismissed the initial appeal, stating that the Federal Trade Commission had not adequately demonstrated Meta's monopolistic power. After the institution strengthened and brought a new lawsuit, the judge stated that the institution can begin to collect evidence from witnesses.

But when the Federal Trade Commission asked Boasberg to move forward with the lawsuit in December, Meta's lawyer countered that the case was "far from trial. Meta's lawyer stated that the Federal Trade Commission delayed questioning the historical acquisition cases reviewed by the agency in 2012 and 2014 for nearly a decade, and it has no reason to claim that the case is now urgent.

The US Department of Justice's investigation into Apple is entering its later stages, and it is expected to file a comprehensive lawsuit in the first half of the year

In addition to the three cases mentioned above (with Google accounting for two), according to media reports, three insiders have stated that the Department of Justice's investigation into Apple has also entered the later stage, and a comprehensive antitrust lawsuit may be filed against the company's strategy to protect the dominant position of the iPhone as early as the first half of this year.

According to insiders cited by the media, the focus of the investigation is on how Apple uses other products and services to resist threats to its core business, making it harder for consumers to give up the company's devices and for competitors to compete.

Specifically, investigators studied why the Apple Watch works better with the iPhone than other brands, and how Apple excludes competitors from iMessage services. These individuals stated that they also reviewed Apple's iPhone payment system, which prevents other financial companies from providing similar services.