The 1980 Decision
There was a post recently with an interesting take by Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas. It highlighted the remarkable success of the Nasdaq-100, which has outperformed the S&P 500 for decades. Even over the past ten years, the $NDX is up about +400%, while the $SPX has “only” gained around +200%.
His thesis traces this back to Steve Jobs in 1980, when he chose to list Apple Inc. on the Nasdaq rather than another exchange. According to Balchunas, that decision created a kind of pull effect, attracting many of the most promising and fast-growing companies to the same index, ultimately driving its standout performance over the following decades.
I found this a really interesting angle that I hadn’t come across before. What do you think, does Balchunas have a point?
