America Supplants China in Rank of Biggest Stocks by Value

American companies are supplanting China from the world’s 500 biggest stocks faster than at any time in the past decade, as an improving U.S. economy and investor confidence in free markets overcomes the lure of equities offering twice the profit growth.

U.S. corporations led by Apple Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. make up 171 of the top 500 with a market capitalization of $10.6 trillion, or 40.3 percent of the total, compared with 159 valued at $8.24 trillion in 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show. PetroChina Co. and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. lead the 24 Chinese firms worth $1.74 trillion qualifying today, down from 34 with a capitalization of $2.19 trillion.