PARIS — G7 finance ministers convened in Paris on May 19, 2026, as new data showed the bloc’s share of global equity valuation has rebounded to 72 percent. The meeting occurred as the United States accounted for more than half of global equity valuation—the first time in nearly four decades it has held such a dominant position.
The G7’s equity share had declined from 92 percent in 1975 to 54 percent in 2010. That long-term erosion reversed after the 2008 global financial crisis, when U.S. equity markets began a sustained recovery. The recent surge has been driven largely by seven U.S. companies—Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla. These firms represent more than 30 percent of the S&P 500’s total valuation.
Excluding these seven companies, the G7’s share of global equity would fall from 72 percent to approximately 56 percent. The International Monetary Fund has warned of elevated financial risks linked to market concentration, now considered among the highest in modern history.
U.S. equity market influence began to wane in the early 1970s. By 1985, the rest of the world had surpassed the United States in total market capitalization, a shift fueled in part by Japan’s asset bubble, which placed Tokyo at the center of global finance before its collapse in the early 1990s. During the 1960s and 1970s, market performance on the New York Stock Exchange was dominated by the “Nifty Fifty,” a group of about fifty large-cap U.S. companies.
While the G7’s share of global GDP has continued to shrink, the bloc maintains a central role in coordinating international sanctions and holds substantial strategic oil reserves. Some of those reserves were released in March 2026 to mitigate supply disruptions caused by the Iran war. French Economy Minister Roland Lescure appeared with finance ministers from G7 nations for a group photo at the French Finance Ministry during the May 19 meeting.