All stocks are not created equal ⚖️

In capitalism, there are winners and losers 🏆

A few stocks are driving the bulk of this year’s returns. (Source: Apollo Global)

A handful of stocks are responsible for the bulk of the S&P 500’s 12.5% year-to-date gains.

“The seven biggest stocks in the S&P 500 are up more than 50% in 2023,” Apollo Global’s Torsten Slok observed on Saturday. “The remaining 493 stocks are basically flat.”

Charts like the one above often rekindle anxieties about market concentration and skewed returns, anxieties that are sometimes misplaced.

Market concentration isn’t unusual and isn’t necessarily bad 📊