These 5 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks Make Up 27.3% of the Entire S&P 500 Index
The S&P 500(^GSPC 0.02%) is composed of 500 stocks from 11 different sectors, including information technology, energy, financials, and real estate
While it is the most diversified of the major U.S. stock market indexes, a select few technology stocks are having a growing influence over its performance thanks to their meteoric rise in value.
As of this writing, the following five companies have a combined market capitalization of $12.5 trillion, accounting for 27.3% of the total value of the entire S&P 500:
The S&P 500 index is up 11.5% in 2024 so far. However, the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index -- which assigns an equal weighting to every stock regardless of its market cap -- is up just 4.9%.
The difference can be explained (in large part) by the average year-to-date gain of 26.3% in the above five stocks, which highlights their influence over the performance of the S&P 500.
Each of the five companies has a track record of success spanning decades, and they are using that experience (and their vast financial resources) to dominate new industries like artificial intelligence (AI).
Microsoft is the world's largest company. It was founded in 1975, and some of its flagship products like Windows and Word are still used by billions of people today.
Microsoft has cemented itself as a leader in AI thanks to the OpenAI partnership, and its products will continue to benefit from the start-up's lightning-paced innovation.