According to Apollo Global CEO Marc Rowan, the US stock market has put the rest of the world inadequate this year, but that doesn’t mean that American exceptionalism is dead. The S&P 500 was just over 4% in 2025, putting other international markets that have surged this year as investors diversified away from the US. Performance of individual stock exchanges has been further improved. German stocks have skyrocketed over 30% this year. China’s stocks have grown by more than 18%. But the US is far from unattractive, Rowan said. Despite the continued risks ranging from balloon fiscal deficits to geopolitical uncertainty, the US stock market will remain attractive to institutional investors, as it has been in the past 15 years. That’s because of the strength of the high-tech sector. “As I say sometimes, we were very exceptional,” Rowan told Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor at the stage of the Morningstar Investment Conference in Chicago. “Ten shares are now 40% of the S&P, and these 10 shares are at 60 p/e at one point. And one share, Nvidia, was bigger than the market capitalization of all stock exchanges other than Japan. That’s very exceptional.” “We’re just moving exceptionally now,” added Rowan. “And in margins, the US has come to flow into Europe and China, because the US is no longer attractive in margins. That doesn’t mean it’s not attractive to Europe or China.” SPX YTD Mountain S&P 500, in fact, on Thursday, the S&P 500 was at the highest ever cusp, under 1% below the February peak, after recouping all losses following a tariff-induced April sale. High-tech stocks led the way. Information Technology and Communication Services were the top two in the S&P 500 sector this year, attracting 21% and 15% respectively. Within that universe, semiconductors are outperforming, with Vaneck Semiconductor ETFs (SMHs) increasing by more than 30% in the meantime. Nvidia has increased by more than 40%. “You look at the world, and there are three big investment blocks in the world. You can invest in China, you can invest in Europe. You can invest here,” Rowan said. “I want to be here.” “We’re just the cleanest, dirty shirts,” he said. “All the problems we have are getting worse in the other two regimes.”
