How the AI boom is concentrating S&P 500 earnings growth

As the US Q3 reporting season gets underway, here’s a sobering observation: the ‘big-tech’ sectors – information technology, communication services, and consumer discretionary – have accounted for nearly 70% of the increase in S&P 500 forward-twelve-month (FTM) earnings since the end of 2022. And the lion’s share of that has been generated by firms that you could count on two hands. This doesn’t mean that the growth of S&P 500 FTM EPS is unsustainable if demand for AI keeps growing. But it speaks to the reliance of the bull market on this transformative technology.