The Anatomy of US Equities
Mentioned in this paper:
MSCI USA Index | MSCI All Country Venture-Backed Private Company Indexes
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The U.S. equity market has led global equities for most of the past five decades. This paper examines the structural drivers behind that leadership — innovation, durable corporate fundamentals, reinvention by incumbents and continuous IPO-driven renewal — and shows how quickly and how broadly the MSCI USA Index has captured them across Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®).1 It also looks ahead: With a large group of AI-era private companies reportedly approaching public listings, whether this renewal reaches institutional and wealth investors depends on how promptly their index adds the new companies.
Data from January 1975 to June 2026. Number of firms and sector classifications by IPO year that were subsequently added to MSCI USA.
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1 GICS is the industry-classification standard jointly developed by MSCI and Dow Jones Indices.
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