Are These the 10 Most Important Stocks in the Market?

Investors looking for evidence of a broad and strong economic recovery should probably steer clear of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). The investment firm’s U.S. Equity Strategy team recently released its 2013 stock market outlook, and it contains an eye-opener.

Adam Parker, Managing Director and Chief U.S. Equity Strategist at Morgan Stanley, offers a slew of interesting views on the overall market in the report. Interestingly, he points out that the majority of earnings growth this year comes from only 10 major companies. In fact, these large firms account for 88 percent of all year-over-year earnings growth in the S&P 500, as of November 23, 2012. Furthermore, the top four corporate giants account for more than 50 percent of the growth.

The Top 10 Contributors are listed below, along with their share performance year-to-date:

• Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL): 45 percent
• Bank of America (NYSE:BAC): 77 percent
• American International Group (NYSE:AIG): 42 percent
• Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS): 33 percent
• Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC): 19 percent
• JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM): 22 percent
• International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM): 5 percent
• Citigroup (NYSE:C): 35 percent
• General Electric (NYSE:GE): 17 percent
• Western Digital (NYSE:WDC): 16 percent

Is It Any Wonder Why Many of these Companies Received a Bailout?

Parker was the most bearish strategist on Wall Street last year…

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