'AI is all that matters': How 42 artificial intelligence stocks drive 67% of S&P 500 gains since 2024

'AI is all that matters': How 42 artificial intelligence stocks drive 67% of S&P 500 gains since 2024

Amid the global race to develop and deploy artificial intelligence (AI), the US stock market is showing just how much this technology is reshaping corporate fortunes. A small group of AI stocks is driving the bulk of market gains, earnings growth and investment.

According to The Kobeissi Letter, a financial markets commentary and research platform, just 42 AI stocks have generated 67% of the S&P 500's price return since the start of 2024. These stocks have contributed 22 percentage points to the index's total gain of 33% over the period.

The other 458 stocks in the benchmark have contributed just 11 percentage points.

The gap is just as striking when it comes to earnings. The 42 AI stocks have accounted for 58% of the S&P 500's earnings growth since the start of 2024, The Kobeissi Letter said.

Since the start of 2024, a basket of 42 AI stocks has generated 67% of the S&P 500's price return. In other words, those names have contributed +22 percentage points to the index’s +33% gain over this period. By comparison, the remaining 458 stocks have added +11 percentage points. Additionally, those 42 AI stocks have accounted for 58% of the S&P 500's earnings growth and 81% of CapEx and R&D growth since the start of 2024. The rest of the index has therefore contributed just 20% of total CapEx and R&D growth over the same period. Meanwhile, just 29% of stocks have outperformed the S&P 500 over the last 3 years, close to the ~25% low recorded during the 2000 Dot-Com Bubble. AI is all that matters. — The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) October 11, 2026

Investment tells a similar story. These companies have driven 81% of the index's growth in capital expenditure (CapEx) and research and development (R&D) over the same period. The remaining stocks have accounted for just 20% of the total growth in these investments.

The numbers show how heavily the US market's performance is leaning on a narrow group of companies riding the AI boom. Their influence extends from stock prices to business earnings and spending on future growth.

There is another sign of how narrow the market rally has become: only 29% of stocks have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past three years.

That is approaching the roughly 25% low recorded during the 2000 dot-com bubble, when investor enthusiasm for internet companies drove a technology-led market boom.

Drawing attention to the growing dominance of AI-linked stocks, The Kobeissi Letter concluded: "AI is all that matters."

Meanwhile, US stock futures were little changed on Sunday night after Wall Street's major indexes ended the week higher, with investors turning their attention to a busy week of corporate earnings and inflation data.

Futures linked to the S&P 500 rose 0.12%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.24%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures edged up 28 points, or 0.05%.

The major averages ended the previous week in the green, supported by a rally in technology stocks that helped investors look past rising oil prices and bond yields. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each recorded their second weekly gain in three weeks, while the Nasdaq Composite extended its winning streak to four weeks.

Asian markets opened mixed on Monday. South Korea's Kospi fell 1.34%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.61%. Japan's markets remained closed for a holiday.

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