If you strip AI-related stocks out of the S&P 500, US equities have actually slightly underperformed European stocks this year. This seemingly counterintuitive conclusion reveals the core driver behind the current transatlantic equity market divergence—the AI capex boom's returns are highly concentrated among a handful of US tech giants, while European markets have demonstrated their own resilience once that factor is removed. Data shows the S&P 500 has climbed roughly 13.5% year-to-date, adding about $9 trillion in market value. But an index that excludes AI-linked companies and tracks so-called "old economy" names has risen only about 5.
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