BRICs or FAANGs: Convenient acronyms don't spell safe investment bets

The FAANGs group of tech and internet giants Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google owner Alphabet has been the vanguard of the so-called fourth industrial revolution for over a decade

A 24-hour earnings blitz from Facebook-owner Meta and Amazon this month showed just why market acronyms like "FAANGs" capture a changing world for a bit but rarely endure as long-term investment concepts.

From dot.com bubble era "TMT" bundles of then diverse telecom, media and technology stocks to the "BRICs" of Brazil, Russia, India and China that captured shifting economic power in the 2000s, investors are suckers for catchy acronyms.

And they're mostly a gift for, if not an invention of, investment marketing teams.

Convenient collections hinge on themes and share traits for a period. But mostly it's timing, zeitgeist and a bull market.

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