For relaxation last night, I was playing the music of my youth and these lyrics from “Long Time Gone” by Crosby, Stills and Nash made me think of the November 3 election:

But you know
The darkest hour
Is always, always just before the dawn

And it appears to be a long
Appears to be a long
Appears to be a long time
Such a long, long, long, long time before the dawn

It’s been a long dark election season and today’s vote might initially bring more heat than light. But America has experienced even darker times throughout its history and the republic eventually prevailed. It’s instructive to remember that the song “Long Time Gone” was written by David Crosby in 1968 in response to the killing of Bobby Kennedy.

Political violence has returned to the streets of our country, but we’ll survive the current crisis, too. And when the dust has settled, we’ll face a new dawn. Leading the way will be technological innovation that’s transforming society. Let’s look at the investment opportunities.

When innovation becomes the norm…

Investors face a sea of immediate troubles, including vicious political partisanship and a deadly pandemic, but through it all the tech sector has been on a steady roll. Tech’s prosperity is the harbinger of a newly configured economy.

The benchmark Technology Select Sector Index (XLK) has generated a total return of 25.04% year to date, compared to a YTD gain of 4.05% for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), as of market close November 2.

The tech sector is benefiting from the pandemic as quarantined consumers shop, work, learn, play, and socialize at home. Regardless of the outcome of the November 3 election, this trend will continue next year and beyond. We face an economic rebirth in 2021, as disruptive innovations become entrenched as the status quo.

Investors on Monday shrugged off election anxieties to embrace these long-term positives. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 423.45 points (+1.60%), the S&P 500 climbed 40.28 points (+1.23%), and the tech-intensive NASDAQ Composite gained 46.02 points (+0.42%).

Global stocks and U.S. futures Tuesday morning were trading higher, as investors not just in America but around the world looked forward to putting the U.S. presidential election in the rear view mirror.

Watch This Video: Your Election Survival Guide

Airlines, hotel chains, restaurants, movie theaters, cruise ships, theme parks, and millions of small businesses are getting clobbered by the coronavirus pandemic. We’re witnessing massive unemployment and a wave of personal and corporate bankruptcies. But “Big Tech” companies? They’re doing just fine, thank you.

Despite the severe recession, resurgent pandemic, and election year tumult, the biggest players in the technology sector are enjoying increased demand.

Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN), Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), Alphabet (NSDQ: GOOGL), Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), and Facebook (NSDQ: FB) all posted significant year-over-year revenue growth for the first nine months of 2020 ending September 30 (see chart, released by research firm Statista on November 2):

Combined, these five tech behemoths comprise more than 20% of the weighting of the S&P 500 Index. You could say that the S&P 500 is really the S&P 5. The rising stock prices of this quintet have accounted for a disproportionate share of the stock market’s rally since late March. That means their shares are pricey and might dip in the near future, but a correction would be healthy and set the table for prolonged future gains.

If you need further evidence that digital technology is in the ascendancy, consider the fate of blue-chip energy giant Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM). The Dow in August kicked Exxon Mobil to the curb and replaced it with cloud services provider Salesforce (NYSE: CRM). We’ve gone from drill bits to data bytes. John D. Rockefeller would be mystified.

Read This Story: The Dow Gives “Big Oil” The Boot

The transition to the cloud is among the biggest tech trends afoot today. By using data storage and IT capabilities that are centralized and located off-site, companies are able to greatly reduce their processing costs through efficient outsourcing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve reached an inflection point whereby the cloud pervades all aspects of our personal lives and not just corporate processes.

The pandemic also has accelerated adoption of ecommerce, mobile payment services, telehealth, video teleconferencing, virtual/augmented reality, and robotics. Tying these industries together is the roll-out of 5G wireless.

In previous Mind Over Market columns, I’ve written extensively about 5G as a powerful technology trend. For our comprehensive report on the investment opportunities of 5G, click here now.

John Persinos is the editorial director of Investing Daily. Send your questions or comments to mailbag@investingdaily.com. To subscribe to John’s video channel, follow this link.