Juliet Schooling Latter: US equity growth is no longer scarce

Deep Dive into US equities

The US stock market is an interesting place at the moment. With the S&P500 having returned 346.7% over the past decade, led in the main by the giant tech stocks, there are concerns we are at a turning point.

With valuations of these companies high, inflation looking stickier than first assumed, and reopening momentum in full swing, there are question marks over whether these companies can continue to deliver. The FAANGMs (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google and Microsoft) represent just under a quarter of the S&P 500 and some $8.8trn of market cap and therefore can have a big impact on index returns. Data over the past eight years from Yardeni Research shows this quite starkly; since the end of 2012, the S&P 500 ex-FAANGM has returned 140% in dollar terms while the FAANGMs themselves ha...