In 2024, stock markets in the United States accounted for roughly 60 percent of world stocks. The next largest country by stock market share was Japan, followed by the United Kingdom. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ are the largest stock exchange operators worldwide. What is a stock exchange? The first modern publicly traded company was the Dutch East Industry Company, which sold shares to the general public to fund expeditions to Asia. Since then, groups of companies have formed exchanges in which brokers and dealers can come together and make transactions in one space. Stock market indices group companies trading on a given exchange, giving an idea of how they evolve in real time. Appeal of stock ownership Over half of adults in the United States are investing money in the stock market. Stocks are an attractive investment because the possible return is higher than offered by other financial instruments.

As of March 3, 2025, Apple was the leading tech company by market capitalization globally at 3.62 trillion U.S. dollars. Nvidia ranked second at just over three trillion U.S. dollars, a figure that tumbled in January 2025 following the dramatic release and success of DeepSeek's AI model. The Chinese-made AI model jumped to the top of the Apple Store in late January, stunning investors, and sinking multiple tech stocks. Apple leads the pack Since its foundation in a Californian garage in 1976, Apple has expanded massively, becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world. The company started its origins in the PC industry with the Macintosh, but soon entered other segments of the consumer electronics market. Today, the iPhone is the most popular Apple product, although Mac, iPad, wearables, and services also contribute to its high revenues. Aiming at innovation, Apple invests every year in research and development, spanning a wide array of technologies from AI through to extended reality. Nvidia's immense growth With a focus that began with origins in gaming, Nvidia's business strategy has been transformed by demand from data centers that sit at the heart of the AI boom. The company's chips have been favored to support in the training and running of a range of large language models, most notably in the development of OpenAI's ChatGPT.

As of March 3, 2025, Nvidia ranked as the leading semiconductor company in terms of market capitalization at 3.05 trillion U.S. dollars, followed by the likes of TSMC, Broadcom, ASML, and Samsung. Many of the leading semiconductor stocks tumbled upon the debut of DeepSeek's powerful AI model in January 2025, wiping nearly 600 billion U.S. dollars from Nvidia's market cap alone. Nonetheless, the mix of companies featured on the list reflects the broad and complex nature of the semiconductor industry, with firms coming from across all parts of the chip ecosystem. Regional highlights The global semiconductor industry is dominated by companies from North America and the Asia-Pacific region. As a result, China, South Korea, and Taiwan rank as some of the biggest regional markets for semiconductor equipment spending. One of the world’s leading chip-making machine manufacturers, and the only company in the world producing extreme ultraviolet lithography, or EUV, machines, is ASML based in Europe. ASML supplies its machines to the likes of TSMC, who are then contracted to manufacture chips for Nvidia. A dynamic industry In 2025, the semiconductor industry is expected to grow strongly, with forecasts suggesting the market could rise to just below 700 billion U.S. dollars. Nonetheless, companies across the whole supply chain must continue to navigate a challenging and changing world. Geopolitical tensions, such as the ongoing tech competition between the United States and China, as well as the growth of the AI chip market, will have a profound influence on the semiconductor industry moving forward.

As of January 2025, online search engine Bing accounted for 12.23 percent of the global desktop search market, while market leader Google had a share of around 78.83 percent. Meanwhile, Yahoo's market share was 3.07 percent. Google in the global market Ever since the introduction of Google Search in 1997, the company has dominated the search engine market, while the shares of all other tools has been rather lopsided. The majority of Google revenues are generated through advertising. Its parent corporation, Alphabet, was one of the biggest internet companies worldwide as of 2023, with a market capitalization of 1,6 trillion U.S. dollars. The company has also expanded its services to mail, productivity tools, enterprise products, mobile devices, and other ventures. As a result, Google earned one of the highest tech company revenues in 2023 with roughly 305.6 billion U.S. dollars. Search engine usage in different countries Google is the most frequently used search engine worldwide. But in some countries, its’ alternatives are leading or competing with it to some extent. As of the last quarter of 2023, more than 63 percent of internet users in Russia used Yandex, whereas Google users were nearly 36 percent. Meanwhile, Baidu was the most used search engine in China, despite a strong percentage decrease of internet users in the country accessing it. In other countries, like Japan and Mexico, people tend to use Yahoo along with Google. In the first quarter of 2022 nearly 56 percent of the respondents in Japan said that they had used Yahoo in the past four weeks. In the same year, over 27 percent of users in Mexico said they used Yahoo. Another search engine, Bing, operated by Microsoft, was the second most popular search engine in the United Kingdom after Google.

The telecommunications firm Verizon is the leading provider of mobile services in the United States, with a market share of nearly 37 percent of wireless subscriptions as of the last quarter of 2024. T-Mobile and AT&T are the other major wireless carriers in the U.S. market.  The market share is based on subscription figures reported by the companies in quarterly earnings and financial statements. Mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) subscriptions were not considered for the statistic. Seismic shift: T-Mobile and Sprint Merger T-Mobile’s 26.5 billion U.S. dollar acquisition of Sprint Corp. became official on 1st April 2020, a merger that temporarily reduced the number of major wireless providers in the United States. Under the terms of the merger, T-Mobile acquired Sprint’s 33.84 million postpaid subscribers, joining the 47 million T-Mobile postpaid wireless subscribers. DISH Network Corporation acquired Sprint’s prepaid mobile business, Boost Mobile, raising that number to four, satisfying the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) that the market would remain competitive.  T-Mobile is the largest U.S. telco by market cap As of 2024, T-Mobile had a market capitalization of over 214 billion U.S. dollars, the highest of any U.S. telecommunications company. Beijing-based China Mobile and U.S. giant Verizon trailed, with a market cap of 213 and 178 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. Comcast and AT&T were valued at 160 and 134 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.

As of June 2022, Amazon accounted for 37.8 percent of the U.S. e-commerce market, making it the country’s leading online retailer by a considerable margin. Second place was occupied by the e-commerce site of the retail chain Walmart, with a 6.3 percent market share, followed in third place by Apple, with 3.9 percent.

Amazon’s continued success

Amazon has long dominated the e-commerce market as the world’s favorite online marketplace. In 2022, company hit over half a trillion U.S. dollars in net sales. The United States is by far Amazon’s most profitable market, as the U.S. branch generated over 356 billion U.S. dollars in sales in 2022. Germany ranked second, with 33 billion dollars, followed closely by the United Kingdom with 30 billion dollars.

Online shopping on the rise

Online shopping has grown significantly over the past decade, with more people turning to the internet for their shopping needs. The proof is in the numbers: the U.S. e-commerce industry was worth almost a trillion dollars in 2023. By 2027, forecasts show that the online market will grow to more than 50 percent. U.S. online shoppers purchase fashion and food and beverages the most via the internet.

During this time period, American Airlines was the leading airline in the U.S., with a domestic market share of 17.5 percent, closely followed by Delta Airlines, which had a 17.3 percent market share.

U.S. airlines' domestic market share

The passenger air transportation market is a thriving industry, taking individuals to locations around the globe. American Airlines was the second largest airline in the North America based on operating revenue, reaching nearly 50 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. Passenger airlines can face much scrutiny for their passenger satisfaction and comfort. A 2022 North American Airline Satisfaction Study by J.D. Power & Associates listed Southwest Airlines as the best long-haul, closely followed by low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways.

United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines are the top ranked airlines based on 2022 domestic market share. Delta operates out of Atlanta, and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta’s hub, sees the most passenger traffic in the United States. Chicago-headquartered United Airlines is a subsidiary of United Continental Holdings. United has flights to 210 domestic destinations and 120 destinations internationally, the Denver International Airport in Colorado being its largest passenger hub with over 8.4 million passengers in 2021.

Red Bull was the leading brand within the United States energy drinks market in the 52 weeks ending on May 19, 2024 responsible for almost one half of all sales. This translated into sales of around 7.76 billion U.S. dollars for the energy drink brand. Monster Energy followed in second place, with 28 percent market share. Celsius, Rockstar, and C4 also featured in the top five energy drinks of 2024. Red Bull’s success story Red Bull is the primary energy drink brand sold by Red Bull GmbH, an Austrian beverage company which was created in 1987. Red Bull’s brand value reached over 22 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Part of the appeal of the beverage may be in part to its advertising. It has created extreme sports events such as the Red Bull Air Race and the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, and owns multiple sports teams in racing and soccer. Clever television advertising also helped Red Bull become a household name. What are the effects of energy drinks? Energy drinks are part of the non-alcoholic beverage industry and can be manufactured with or without carbonation. They contain different stimulant compounds which provide mental and physical stimulation, making the consumer feel more awake. Caffeine is the most common stimulant used within energy drinks, other ingredients can include sugar, sweeteners, herbal extracts, and various vitamins. Such products can be harmful if consumed in excess.

JPMorgan Chase was the leading bank in the United States as of December 2023, with its market share of total assets amounting to 8.56 percent. This means that the value of assets of JPMorgan Chase was equivalent to 8.56 percent of the total value of assets of all FDIC-insured institutions in the United States. Bank of America and Wells Fargo followed, with 6.4 and 4.37 percent of the total banking assets, respectively. The value of JPMorgan Chase's total assets exceeded 3.3 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023. JPMorgan Chase: an industry leader in U.S. banking JPMorgan Chase is undoubtedly one of the leading financial services companies in the United States. It does not only rank first in terms of market share of total assets, but it also has the largest market capitalization and value of total and domestic deposits. The New York-based banking giant is also among the largest banks globally. In terms of assets, JPMorgan Chased ranked fifth in 2022, with only four Chinese banks having had higher amounts of assets. Bank failures in the U.S. The failures of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in March 2023 marked the first bank failures in the U.S. since 2021. The total assets lost in the failure of these two banks amounted to 319.4 billion U.S. dollars. In comparison, the total assets of the 371 U.S. bank failures between 2010 and 2022 amounted to 168 billion U.S. dollars. Both SVB and Signature Bank had a disproportionately low share of deposits of less than 250,000 U.S. dollars in the fourth quarter of 2022 (2.7 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively), which meant that the majority of deposits held at these banks were not secured by the FDIC.

Apple claimed a 17.7 percent share of the market in the second quarter of 2024, an increase from the previous quarter. Apple's long time competitor, Samsung, ranked first with a market share of 18.3 percent. Apple and Samsung continue to dominate the smartphone market Apple has been amongst the top five smartphone vendors in the world since 2009. With the decline of former market leaders Nokia and RIM, Apple and Samsung were able to grow their presence in the market. As a result of political pressure, tariffs and restrictions imposed by the U.S, Chinese manufacturer Huawei has recently dropped off of the top five list in the smartphone market, while Xiaomi, Oppo, and Transsion have gained ground. Coronavirus (COVD-19) pandemic impact on iPhone sales While the long-term impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on sale is difficult to determine, the immediate impact was quickly visible. While large quarterly fluctuations are normal for Apple’s revenue cycle, one must look back to 2017 to find two consecutive quarters in which Apple generated less than 30 billion U.S. dollars in revenue from the iPhone. A less strong performance in the first quarter of 2024, lead by the iPhone 16, gave Apple the second spot in terms of quarterly global unit shipments after Samsung, although strong sales in the fourth quarter of every year is a common occurrence with Apple products.

Apple held the largest slice of the global smartphone market by shipments during the fourth quarter of 2024, followed by Samsung. Xiaomi has taken a tight grip on the third position, accounting for a market share of 13 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024. Samsung and Apple smartphone sales Smartphone vendors have been suffering from the events of the past couple of years, including the pandemic and the economic downturn. However, they all appear to be recovering, as shown by the recent increase in shipments. For instance, mostly based on the main line of Galaxy Series, Samsung's smartphone shipments totaled nearly 223.5 million units globally in 2024. Next to Samsung, Apple is a major manufacturer of smartphones worldwide, with the company shipping more than 228 million iPhones worldwide in 2024. Apple’s sales tend to be very cyclical, peaking in the fourth quarter each year, much like in the fourth quarter of 2023, when they took the first spot in terms of units shipped globally with around 80.5 units. Xiaomi in the lead While Apple and Samsung are typically the two major companies challenging for the top spot, Huawei had provided a strong challenge in recent years. Particularly, the Chinese company managed to climb the smartphone market ladder between 2011 and 2024, recording shipments of over 42 million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2024. However, strong performances from rivals like Xiaomi and the effects of the U.S. trade ban have since seen Huawei fall outside the list of top five vendors by smartphone shipments.