The number of stocks listed on US markets continue to decline. However the number of indices created based on US stocks has soared and now excess the number of stocks according to an article at Bloomberg.
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This situation is similar to the one related to the number of US stocks and mutual funds. A few years ago I wrote that the number of mutual funds has exploded while the number of companies listed has declined. In fact, back in 2010 there were over 7,500 mutual funds compared to around 5,00o stocks.
Today there are over 5,000 indices. But the total number of listed US stocks stood at just 4,331 at the end of 2016 according to World Federation of Exchanges.
From an investment point of view, rising number of indices and mutual funds relative to the number of listed companies is not good.
Updated:
Source: Bloomberg
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