U.S. stocks have been on a tear in recent years, largely on the back of euphoria around artificial intelligence. But not everyone has participated in the runup: Stock wealth has largely accrued to the wealthiest U.S. households.
Even with recent choppiness, the S&P 500
U.S. stock index is up about 16% over the past year. Total wealth from publicly traded stocks has risen by $8 trillion or so during that time, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s.
The top 20% wealthiest U.S. households own nearly 93% of all stock — meaning they get the lion’s share of any stock market gains, according to calculations by Edward Nathan Wolff, an economics professor at New York University who studies income and wealth distribution.
“Stock ownership is still heavily concentrated among the rich — the very rich, in fact — and poor families have basically been left out of the picture,” Wolff said.
