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US companies continue to dominate among the world’s most valuable publicly traded companies – even as the stocks of Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet and Tesla have all plummeted. Europe and Germany are lagging behind.

The United States is leaving Europe behind despite major price losses of American tech companies on the stock exchange. Of the 100 most valuable publicly traded companies in the world, 61 are from the US alone, one less than last year, according to a study by consultancy EY. No company from Europe is represented in the top ten and only one from outside the US – the oil company Saudi Aramco. As of Dec. 27, Apple remained at the top of the rankings published Thursday with a market value of more than $2 trillion, ahead of Saudi Aramco and Microsoft.

Swiss presence in the top 100 stable – Europe on the way down

With the usual titles Nestlé (rank 23), Roche (rank 32) and Novartis (rank 45), Switzerland once again occupies fifth place in the country ranking of the 100 most valuable companies. The stable presence shows that Switzerland continues to be successful in international business and that, as a relatively small country, it plays an important role in the European and global economy, according to the EY consultants.

A total of nine Swiss companies made the top 300, in addition to the three companies already mentioned, Chubb Limited (ranked 144), Glencore (153), Richemont (182), Zurich (190), UBS (238) and ABB (246), such as the study shows.

Germany is not even represented in the top 100 – the software manufacturer SAP as the most valuable Dax value only comes in 106th place. The industrial gases group Linde, which has been based in Ireland since the merger with the American company Praxair, is in 59th place. .

US companies have dominated world stock markets for years – spurred on by the growth of technology companies, which had risen rapidly in value during the stock market boom of recent years. But with the interest rate hikes by the major central banks in the weak stock market year 2022, the interest-sensitive tech giants faced a headwind. Tech companies lost 33 percent of their market value over the year, according to EY. Tesla, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon alone lost $4.6 trillion.

The largest listed companies are losing significantly in value

In total, the 100 largest publicly traded companies lost $7.2 trillion, or 20 percent of their value. While consumer goods and telecommunications companies also posted sharp price losses, energy companies in particular increased (+12 percent) thanks to higher commodity prices. “The sharp rise in interest rates, the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices worldwide – all these developments have left their mark on world stock markets,” said Henrik Ahlers, CEO of EY.

According to EY, only 15 of the 100 largest exchange companies are headquartered in Europe, so the most valuable representative is French luxury conglomerate LVMH in 15th place. 19 of the largest exchange companies are from Asia, led by the tech group tencent.

The importance of Europe on the stock market has been declining for years. According to EY, at the end of 2007, before the height of the financial crisis, 46 of the world’s 100 most valuable companies came from Europe and at least seven from Germany. At the end of 2021 there were two more: SAP and Siemens. The Federal Republic is underrepresented on the stock exchanges, says Ahlers. But the rules for the digital economy are made by companies from the US and Asia. Germany lacked a strong start-up culture and good financing conditions for young companies. However, Germany has many medium-sized world market leaders and also world-class unlisted companies such as Lidl and Aldi or the car supplier Bosch.

In addition, Germany and Europe are disproportionately suffering from the war in Ukraine and the rise in energy prices. “In the US, industrial companies can currently produce much cheaper, the war is far away for them and nobody has to fear a gas crisis there,” said Ahlers. So there is little talk of a renaissance in Germany and Europe on the world stock exchanges in the new year. (aeg/sda/awp/dpa)