We’re nearing the end of the second quarter, with the S&P 500 notching a gain of nearly 3% this quarter and 16% for the first half.

But the gains are not evenly distributed. Some of the largest stocks by market capitalization are leading the way.

Call it the triumph of indexing: A few companies have gotten so big that they are essentially becoming the market, and when they do well, the markets do well.

You can see this in the distribution of returns. The S&P 500 may be up 2.9%, but an equal-weighted index of the S&P 500 is up only 1.8%, suggesting the largest companies are pulling the averages up. Second, midcaps are flat and the S&P Small Cap Index is down 1.8%.

For the quarter, five of the largest stocks contributed 30% of that S&P 500 gain:

Microsoft 14.8%

Facebook 5.5%

Amazon 4.8%

Disney 4.8%

Apple 4.0%

Think about that — five companies, out of almost 500, contribute more than 30% of the gains.

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