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The Decline In U.S. Stocks To Choose From: What It Means For Investors


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Published in Stocks and Investing on Tuesday, February 4th 2025 at 9:01 GMT by Forbes   Print publication without navigation

  • The tally of publicly traded companies in the U.S. fell from about 8,800 in 1997 to just 3,952 by the end of 2024. The famed Wilshire 5000 index, started in 1974 to measure the breadth of the market
  • small, mid, and large-cap stocks
  • now includes just 3,600 equities, down from its original 5,000.

The article by Wes Moss for Forbes, published on February 3, 2025, discusses the significant reduction in the number of publicly traded companies in the U.S., which has dropped from over 7,000 in the late 1990s to around 4,000 currently. This decline is attributed to several factors including mergers and acquisitions, companies choosing to stay private longer due to easier access to private capital, and regulatory burdens. For investors, this means fewer options for diversification, potentially leading to increased concentration risk in portfolios. The article highlights that while this trend might limit choice, it also concentrates investment opportunities in larger, more established companies, potentially simplifying investment decisions but also increasing the importance of due diligence on the remaining stocks. Moss suggests that investors might need to look towards international markets or alternative investments like private equity to achieve broader diversification.

Read the Full Forbes Article at:
[ https://www.forbes.com/sites/wesmoss/2025/02/03/the-decline-in-us-stocks-to-choose-from-what-it-means-for-investors/ ]

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