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Author: Dorothy Neufeld

The Fastest Rising Asset Classes in 2023

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

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Fastest Rising Asset Classes in 2023

The Fastest Rising Asset Classes in 2023

This was originally posted on Advisor Channel. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on financial markets that help advisors and their clients.

Many corners of the market have shown resilience despite persistent inflation and slowing economic growth in 2023. U.S. equities, international equities, and a variety of bonds have seen positive returns so far this year.

In the above graphic, we rank the top-performing asset classes to date with data from BlackRock.

Asset Class Performance, Ranked

Here’s how select asset classes have performed in 2023 as of May 31:

Asset Type2023 Return (as of May 31)10-Year Annualized Return
U.S. Equities9.8%11.9%
Europe Equities9.0%5.3%
Japan Equities8.8%5.3%
Investment Grade Credit2.8%1.6%
High Yield Bonds2.6%3.0%
Cash1.9%0.9%
Emerging Market Debt1.8%1.9%
Emerging Market Equities1.2%2.3%
Developing Market Gov. Debt0.9%-0.5%
Infrastructure0.8%6.1%
REITs-0.6%4.3%
Commodities-6.7%0.0%
China Equities-9.0%2.1%

After a troublesome 2022 for markets, you can see above that U.S. equities have rebounded the fastest in 2023. They are sitting at 9.8% returns year-to-date.

However, this has largely been a story of a few outperformers buoying the overall market. Nvidia with 159% returns, along with Meta (120%), Apple (36%), and Microsoft (37%) are among the companies with strong growth. Many of these companies are investing billions in artificial (Read more...)

Nvidia Joins the Trillion Dollar Club

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

Chart showing Nvidia surpassing the $1 trillion market cap milestone becoming the eighth company to join that club

Nvidia Joins the Trillion Dollar Club

Chipmaker Nvidia is now worth nearly as much as Amazon.

America’s largest semiconductor company has vaulted past the $1 trillion market capitalization mark, a milestone reached by just a handful of companies including Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. While many of these are household names, Nvidia has only recently gained widespread attention amid the AI boom.

The above graphic compares Nvidia to the seven companies that have reached the trillion dollar club.

Riding the AI Wave

Nvidia’s market cap has more than doubled in 2023 to over $1 trillion.

The company designs semiconductor chips that are made of silicon slices that contain specific patterns. Just like you flip an electrical switch by turning on a light at home, these chips have billions of switches that process complex information simultaneously.

Today, they are integral to many AI functions—from OpenAI’s ChatGPT to image generation. Here’s how Nvidia stands up against companies that have achieved the trillion dollar milestone:

Joined ClubMarket Cap
in trillions		Peak Market Cap
in trillions
AppleAug 2018$2.78$2.94
MicrosoftApr 2019$2.47$2.58
AramcoDec 2019$2.06$2.45
AlphabetJul 2020$1.58$1.98
AmazonApr 2020$1.25$1.88
MetaJun 2021$0.68$1.07
TeslaOct 2021$0.63$1.23
NvidiaMay 2023$1.02$1.02

Note: Market caps as of May 30th, 2023

After posting record sales, the company added $184 billion to its market value in one day. Only two other companies have exceeded this number: Amazon ($191 billion), and (Read more...)

Thematic Investing: How to Invest in the Next Big Idea

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

Published • Updated •
The following content is sponsored by Opto
Thematic Investing: How to Invest in the Next Big Idea

Thematic Investing: How to Invest in the Next Big Idea

From clean tech to artificial intelligence, thematic investing provides exposure to disruptive innovations that underlie the next frontier of investing.

In this infographic sponsored by Opto from CMC Markets, we identify the trends and investment themes that could reshape society and unlock future growth opportunities.

Long-Term Structural Growth Trends

Which four trends could define our future?

  1. Climate Change: Extreme weather disruptions, investment in green solutions.
    • Climate-related risks and their implications are gaining serious attention from governments, businesses, and investors. Consider how global government green spending has risen by nearly 40% since 2008, rising to $714 billion in 2022.
  2. Disruptive Technology: Exponential speed of technological advancement.
    • More technological progress is forecast to occur over the next ten years than the last 100 years combined. In fact, the computational capacity of the fastest supercomputers has skyrocketed from 17.6 quadrillion floating-point operations per second in 2012 to 1,100 quadrillion in 2022.
    • Floating point operations are a form of measuring the performance of supercomputers, some of which are one million times faster than a laptop.
  3. Demographic and Social Change: Aging populations.
    • From China to Europe to the U.S., a great demographic transition is underway. The global elderly population, defined as those 65 years and older, is anticipated to double from 761 (Read more...)

Just 20 Stocks Have Driven S&P 500 Returns So Far in 2023

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

Top 20 Stocks Drive Most of S&P 500 Returns

Just 20 Stocks Have Driven Most of S&P 500 Returns

Just 20 firms—mainly AI-related stocks—are propping up the S&P 500 and driving it into positive territory, signaling growing risk in the market.

The above graphic from Truman Du shows which stocks are making up the vast majority of S&P 500 returns amid AI market euphoria and broader market headwinds.

Big Tech Stock Rally

Tech and AI stocks have soared as ChatGPT became a household name in 2023.

The below table shows data from last month, highlighting that just a small collection of companies drove most of the action on the U.S. benchmark index.

Company RankNameContribution to S&P 500 ReturnAverage Weight
1Apple1.49%6.61%
2Microsoft1.15%5.72%
3NVIDIA1.00%1.62%
4Meta0.66%1.15%
5Amazon0.51%2.56%
6Tesla0.50%1.39%
7Alphabet (Class A Shares)0.34%1.72%
8Alphabet (Class C Shares)0.31%1.53%
9Salesforce0.19%0.51%
10Advanced Micro Devices0.16%0.39%
11General Electric0.10%0.28%
12Visa0.10%1.08%
13Broadcom0.09%0.73%
14Intel0.09%0.35%
15Walt Disney0.08%0.55%
16Booking Holdings0.07%0.28%
17Exxon Mobil0.06%1.37%
18Netflix0.06%0.44%
19Oracle0.06%0.40%
20Adobe0.06%0.49%
Top 20 Companies7.05%29.17%
S&P 500*7.55%100.00%

*Based on the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF as of April 11, 2023. Source: Vanguard S&P500 ETF, Bloomberg.

Microsoft invested $10 billion into OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. It has also integrated generative AI into its search (Read more...)

Charting the Rise of America’s Debt Ceiling

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

Charting the Rise in America's Debt Ceiling

Can I share this graphic?
Yes. Visualizations are free to share and post in their original form across the web—even for publishers. Please link back to this page and attribute Visual Capitalist.
When do I need a license?
Licenses are required for some commercial uses, translations, or layout modifications. You can even whitelabel our visualizations. Explore your options.
Interested in this piece?
Click here to license this visualization.

Charting the Rise of America’s Debt Ceiling

Every few years the debt ceiling standoff puts the credit of the U.S. at risk.

In January, the $31.4 trillion debt limit—the amount of debt the U.S. government can hold—was reached. That means U.S. cash reserves could be exhausted by June 1 according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Should Republicans and Democrats fail to act, the U.S. could default on its debt, causing harmful effects across the financial system.

The above graphic shows the sharp rise in the debt ceiling in recent years, pulling data from various sources including the World Bank, U.S. Department of Treasury, and Congressional Research Service.

Familiar Territory

Raising the debt ceiling is nothing new. Since 1960, it’s been raised 78 times.

In the 2023 version of the debate, Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is asking for cuts in government spending. However, President Joe Biden argues that the debt ceiling should be increased without any strings attached. Adding to this, the sharp uptick in interest rates have been a clear reminder that rising (Read more...)

The Recession Playbook: Three Strategies for Investors

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

Published • Updated •
The following content is sponsored by New York Life Investments

The Recession Playbook: Three Strategies for Investors

Concerns about the economy and trouble in the U.S. banking sector have led to increased market uncertainty.

Before this began to surface, several factors were driving slower returns:

  • Inflation: Above-Target
  • Interest Rates: Restrictive
  • Economic Growth: Below Trend

In this graphic from New York Life Investments, we look at three recession investment strategies that have historically been resilient when the market has faced headwinds.

1. Value Equities

During periods of high inflation and slower growth, value equities have been well-positioned as a recession investment strategy, thanks to the following factors:

  • Income generation
  • Quality
  • High cash balances
  • Low correlation to the economic cycle

Value equities include the four most traditional “defensive” sectors, whose earnings are less correlated to economic cycles:

  • Real Estate
  • Utilities
  • Consumer Staples
  • Health Care

Not only have these sectors tended to be more resilient in downturns; cash flows from these sectors have been often positively correlated with inflation.

A moderate equity allocation to value equities within a diversified portfolio could help provide resiliency during times of above-trend inflation and below-trend growth.

2. Commodities

In today’s geopolitical landscape, there are a number of factors that may support the commodity sector, including:

  • Energy independence
  • China’s reopening
  • Minerals and metals to fuel green energy

With this in mind, here’s how investors (Read more...)

Ranked: The Largest Bond Markets in the World

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

Subscribe to the Advisor Channel free mailing list for more like this

The Largest Bond Markets in the World

The Largest Bond Markets in the World

This was originally posted on Advisor Channel. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on financial markets that help advisors and their clients.

In 2022, the global bond market totaled $133 trillion.

As one of the world’s largest capital markets, debt securities have grown sevenfold over the last 40 years. Fueling this growth are government and corporate debt sales across major economies and emerging markets. Over the last three years, China’s bond market has grown 13% annually.

Based on estimates from the Bank for International Statements, this graphic shows the largest bond markets in the world.

ℹ Total debt numbers here include both domestic and international debt securities in each particular country or region. BIS notes that international debt securities are issued outside the local market of the country where the borrower resides and cover eurobonds as well as foreign bonds, but exclude negotiable loans.

Ranked: The World’s Top Bond Markets

Valued at over $51 trillion, the U.S. has the largest bond market globally.

Government bonds made up the majority of its debt market, with over $26 trillion in securities outstanding. In 2022, the Federal government paid $534 billion in interest on this debt.

China is second, at 16% of the global total. Local commercial banks hold the greatest share of its outstanding bonds, while foreign ownership remains fairly low. Foreign interest in China’s (Read more...)

Ranked: The U.S. Banks With the Most Uninsured Deposits

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

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The U.S. Banks With the Most Uninsured Deposits

The U.S. Top Banks by Uninsured Deposits

This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email every week.

Today, there is at least $7 trillion in uninsured bank deposits in America.

This dollar value is roughly three times that of Apple’s market capitalization, or about equal to 30% of U.S. GDP. Uninsured deposits are ones that exceed the $250,000 limit insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which was actually increased from $100,000 after the Global Financial Crisis. They account for roughly 40% of all bank deposits.

In the wake of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) fallout, we look at the 30 U.S. banks with the highest percentage of uninsured deposits, using data from S&P Global.

Which Banks Have the Most Uninsured Deposits?

Over the last month, SVB and Signature Bank went under at lightning speed.

Below, we show how their level of uninsured deposits compare to other banks. The dataset includes U.S. banks with at least $50 billion in assets at the end of 2022.

Top 30 RankBankUninsured Deposits (%)Total Assets (B)
1Silicon Valley Bank*93.8$209
2Bank of New York Mellon92.0$325
3State Street Bank and Trust Co.91.2$298
4Signature Bank*89.3$110
5Northern Trust Co.81.6$155
6Citibank NA73.7$1,767
7CIBC Bank USA73.1$51
(Read more...)

Which Countries Hold the Most U.S. Debt?

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

Chart showing which countries hold the most U.S. debt

Can I share this graphic?
Yes. Visualizations are free to share and post in their original form across the web—even for publishers. Please link back to this page and attribute Visual Capitalist.
When do I need a license?
Licenses are required for some commercial uses, translations, or layout modifications. You can even whitelabel our visualizations. Explore your options.
Interested in this piece?
Click here to license this visualization.

Which Countries Hold the Most U.S. Debt in 2022?

Today, America owes foreign investors of its national debt $7.3 trillion.

These are in the form of Treasury securities, some of the most liquid assets worldwide. Central banks use them for foreign exchange reserves and private investors flock to them during flights to safety thanks to their perceived low default risk.

Beyond these reasons, foreign investors may buy Treasuries as a store of value. They are often used as collateral during certain international trade transactions, or countries can use them to help manage exchange rate policy. For example, countries may buy Treasuries to protect their currency’s exchange rate from speculation.

In the above graphic, we show the foreign holders of the U.S. national debt using data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Top Foreign Holders of U.S. Debt

With $1.1 trillion in Treasury holdings, Japan is the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt.

Japan surpassed China as the top holder in 2019 as China shed over $250 billion, or 30% of its holdings in (Read more...)

A Visual Guide to Bond Market Dynamics

by Dorothy Neufeld
This post is by Dorothy Neufeld from Visual Capitalist

Published • Updated •
The following content is sponsored by New York Life Investments

A Visual Guide to Bond Market Dynamics

Bond markets have been rattled given recent events in the banking industry.

The good news is that the Federal Reserve, U.S. Treasury, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation are taking action to restore confidence and take the appropriate measures to help provide stability in the market.

With this in mind, the above infographic from New York Life Investments looks at the factors that impact bonds, how different types of bonds have historically performed across market environments, and the current bond market volatility in a broader context.

Bond Market Returns

Bonds had a historic year in 2022, posting one of the worst returns ever recorded.

As interest rates rose at the fastest pace in 40 years, it pushed bond prices lower due to their inverse relationship. In a rare year, bonds dropped 13%.

YearBloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond
Index Total Return
2022-13.0%
2021-1.5%
20208.7%
20197.5%
20180.0%
20173.5%
20162.7%
20150.6%
20146.0%
2013-2.0%
20124.2%
20117.8%
20106.5%
20095.9%
20085.2%
20077.0%
20064.3%
20052.4%
20044.3%
20034.1%
200210.3%
20018.4%
20018.4%
200011.6%
1999-0.8%
19988.7%
19979.7%
19963.6%
199518.5%
1994-2.9%
19939.8%
19927.4%
199116.0%
19909.0%
198914.5%
19887.9%
19872.8%
(Read more...)