'Megacap crowding', which has seen six AI-driven stocks lead the 2023 market rally is 'increasingly concerning'. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP via Getty ImagesThe US stock market rally may be less healthy than it appears. Like many others on Wall Street, JPMorgan is concerned by the narrowness of the market advance.
It estimates interest in ChatGPT and artificial intelligence has driven more than half of this year’s gains in both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100. Six AI-innovation stocks – Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, and– have gained some $1.4 trillion in market capitalisation this year.
JPMorgan also noted the performance of the next most valuable stocks in the index, those ranked outside the top 10 but inside the top 50. This grouping has lagged far behind its mega-cap brethren. The end result is the top 10 stocks now account for 28.7 per cent of the index. That’s extreme – it’s higher than 96 per cent of historical readings. A handful of mega-cap giants are doing the heavy lifting.