Wealthiest 10% of Americans own overwhelming majority of stocks, report finds

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Wealth in corporate equities and mutual funds among the wealthiest top 1 per cent increased by more than $6.5 trillion over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the network’s review of Federal Reserve data. The bottom 90 per cent of stockholders added a combined $1.2 trillion, underscoring the stock market’s role as both the largest source of wealth creation and biggest driver of wealth inequality among Americans. The growing concentration of wealth among the nation’s wealthiest people has Those 77 million households in the middle 60 per cent have seen their combined assets sink to 26.6 per cent of total wealth, according to Federal Reserve data analysed by Bloomberg. A recent investigation from ProPublica revealed that more than two dozen people paid a “true tax rate” of less than 4 per cent on a combined $400bn increase in their wealth between 2014 and 2018, while the median American household earned roughly $70,000 annually and paid 14 per cent in federal taxes.