The S&P 500 has been so incredibly resilient in 2026. It’s been less than two weeks since we rang in the new year, but the broad market has already been rocked with a number of macro events, which I would have thought would pave the way for greater volatility and perhaps downside to kick off 2026.

Either way, the S&P is in the green year to date, and markets were quite quick to shrug off initial concerns surrounding the investigation of Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. Is the market ignoring the growing slate of risks? Or is the market’s resilience a sign that it’s time to stick with the proven winners for 2026, as the AI revolution makes its next big move?

Time will tell, but either way, there are potentially sizeable catalysts that might be able to take the following growth titans higher well into the year’s end. Even as macro uncertainties rise, long-term investors might wish to stick with the following trio of plays:

Apple

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is looking like dead money to start the year, with shares now down just over 3% year to date despite the looming catalyst that is the big Siri update. With the rumored Apple-Google AI deal officially inked this week, it’s a mystery to me as to why Apple shares weren’t gaining more ground on the news.

Undoubtedly, it’s not a shocking news event by any stretch. A deal with Google has already been on the radar of investors for months now. Either way, I think it’s about time that skeptics had stopped giving the iPhone maker a hard time about being behind in AI.

With the latest Google Gemini deal, Apple may have bought its way to the front of the pack, even ahead of other big frontier AI firms that have been spending heavily to secure their spot. If you’re worried about AI overspending risks, I think Apple stock is the way to go. With the latest Google deal, I view Apple as a company positioned to get an AI boost with far less spend.

Perhaps Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities put it best: 2026 is a “monumental year for Apple and Cook to finally bring Cupertino into the AI revolution era.” He’s right. And with a lack of action to start the year, Apple stock might be positioned to overdeliver against some pretty modest expectations ahead of the big Siri update.

Amazon

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is another Magnificent Seven firm that has lagged the market over the past year. Though shares have heated up in 2026, spiking close to 9% to date, I think there’s a good shot that the recent bout of strength is the start of something more significant.

Whether we’re talking about the pickup in AWS momentum, further advances in warehouse robots (it’s supposed to be the year of physical AI, after all), the grocery retail push, the potential behind its LLMs in Alexa+ and Rufus, the rise of its agentic AI solutions, or its underrated robotaxi service Zoox, there’s no shortage of catalysts to look forward to in 2026. Arguably, Amazon might have the most unappreciated growth drivers of all the Mag Seven names.

With so many bullish analysts pounding the table on the stock to start the year, it’s hard not to view the e-commerce titan as a standout value pick while shares go for less than 35 times trailing price-to-earnings (P/E). Of course, it’s been difficult to stick with the lagging Mag Seven stock in recent years, but with one of the strongest slates of AI products, I do think Amazon is poised to rise out of the AI revolution as one of the biggest monetizers of the technology.

Perhaps it won’t take long before investors view Amazon’s lofty AI expenditures as money well spent rather than a high-risk move with a high risk of ending in tears.