Inflation is up, Fed is suggesting rate hikes. Both of these are major hits against growth stocks. The question for investors is the so called "Alpha", that is

Inflation is up, Fed is suggesting rate hikes. Both of these are major hits against growth stocks. The question for investors is the so called "Alpha", that is, what is Spotify's price movement against its "benchmark" (and benchmark can be somewhat arbitrarily chosen). S&P500 is a common benchmark, but that represents the general stock market, particularly large-caps. QQQ (Nasdaq) is another, representing tech firms. But with Microsoft and Apple as established companies who'd likely benefit from rising rates and inflation, maybe that's not the best. ARKK is hyperfocused on high-tech growth stocks like Spotify (and includes ~5% of ARKK is Spotify). Is that the proper benchmark to determine alpha? Also, as a hyper-specialized ETF, there's a bit of "tail-wagging-the-dog" effect, where ARKK is down, which causes the underlying (like Spotify) to go down. So despite being so similar (even consisting) of Spotify, it can arguably be the wrong benchmark. (Or, ARKK is down because 5% of it is in Spotify, and the whole Neil Young / Rogan thing is weighing ARKK down) Maybe Russell 3000 (small stock index) is what we want to compare against? Small stocks are almost entirely of the growth style, and you've got enough other stocks in the index that you won't have the tail-wagging-dog effect. ---------- Lots of benchmarks to choose from. Its not about how a stock does individually, but how a stock compares against its peers. The discussion should revolve around picking the right peer group.