# US vs international equities | PIER20 benchmarks

Has US stock-market leadership over the rest of the world persisted or reversed?

The US vs international equities benchmark compares the Vanguard total US market ETF (VTI) with the Vanguard total ex-US market ETF (VXUS), both rebased to 100 at their shared start. A US line above the international line means domestic shares have outpaced the rest of the world over the window; below means international is winning. The spread measures US leadership in global equities.

As of **11 Aug 2026**, the US total market (VTI) line stands at **757.6** and the International ex-US (VXUS) line at **279.3** (both base = 100 at the shared start). The US total market (VTI) line is up 23.5% over the past year and above its long-run median of 250.6.

## Summary statistics (full history)

| Series | First | Latest | Min | Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US total market (VTI) | 100.0 | 757.6 | 85.9 | 758.9 |
| International ex-US (VXUS) | 100.0 | 279.3 | 79.3 | 280.0 |

## Last 24 readings

| Date | US total market (VTI) | International ex-US (VXUS) |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 2026 | 738.3 | 272.5 |
| Jul 2026 | 740.8 | 274.0 |
| Jul 2026 | 735.0 | 268.9 |
| Jul 2026 | 737.8 | 271.8 |
| Jul 2026 | 740.3 | 272.8 |
| Jul 2026 | 736.6 | 269.8 |
| Jul 2026 | 729.5 | 267.6 |
| Jul 2026 | 728.0 | 266.7 |
| Jul 2026 | 734.4 | 271.1 |
| Jul 2026 | 733.2 | 271.1 |
| Jul 2026 | 724.9 | 268.4 |
| Jul 2026 | 725.1 | 267.7 |
| Jul 2026 | 725.9 | 269.0 |
| Jul 2026 | 727.5 | 267.2 |
| Jul 2026 | 716.4 | 264.5 |
| Jul 2026 | 728.0 | 272.1 |
| Jul 2026 | 731.9 | 271.5 |
| Aug 2026 | 743.1 | 272.9 |
| Aug 2026 | 757.0 | 277.5 |
| Aug 2026 | 754.6 | 277.7 |
| Aug 2026 | 753.5 | 277.1 |
| Aug 2026 | 758.9 | 280.0 |
| Aug 2026 | 758.6 | 278.7 |
| Aug 2026 | 757.6 | 279.3 |

## How to read this benchmark

**What a wide or narrow spread means.** When the US line pulls well ahead of the international line, US corporate earnings, growth dynamics or sector composition (heavy in technology) are beating what the rest of the world offers. When the lines converge or invert, international is catching up, typically during commodity booms, dollar weakness or US-specific drawdowns. The post-2010s gap is one of the largest sustained US leadership periods in modern history.

**Why total-market ETFs rather than index proxies.** VTI and VXUS are broad, liquid, total-return ETFs that capture the full investable US and ex-US markets at very low cost, so they reflect the actual experience of a global allocator rather than a narrower index like the S&P 500 or MSCI EAFE. Using total-market pairs also makes the comparison like-for-like: both include large, mid and small caps across all sectors.

**Limitations.** VXUS excludes the US entirely, so the chart cannot show how each region is doing in absolute terms, only their relative performance. Currency moves affect VXUS in dollar terms: a strong dollar depresses VXUS even when foreign equities are rising in local currency, so part of any US lead is a currency effect rather than an equity effect. The window begins in 2011 when VXUS launched, so it misses the 2000s commodity-led international outperformance. Treat the chart as context for US-vs-global leadership, not investment advice.

**Historical extremes.** On the rebased scale (100 at January 2011), VTI has climbed to roughly 725 while VXUS sits near 268, so the US leads by roughly 170 percentage points, the widest sustained gap in the dataset. Both lines bottomed together in October 2011 during the European debt crisis. VXUS briefly closed the gap during the 2016-2017 emerging-market and European recovery, but the spread has widened monotonically since as US mega-cap technology pulled away from the rest of the world.

## How this benchmark is used

**US-vs-global equity allocation.** Global equity allocators use this spread as the headline gauge of whether US overweight or underweight positioning is being rewarded. Sustained US outperformance supports a US-tilt thesis; sustained convergence or international outperformance supports shifting weight overseas. The current 170-percentage-point US lead is the evidence behind the 'American exceptionalism' equity allocation debate.

**Dollar-cyclical and tech-leadership decomposition.** Because VXUS is reported in dollars, the spread mixes US equity outperformance with dollar strength. Allocators decompose the two by tracking the spread alongside a dollar index (UUP) to separate the equity story from the currency story. When the spread widens during dollar strength, currency is doing the work; when it widens during dollar weakness, US earnings are.

**International-value and commodity-factor positioning.** Value and commodity-strategy investors use periods of international catch-up (as in 2016-2017 and briefly in 2022) as entry signals for ex-US value and emerging-market positioning, since international outperformance tends to come during commodity booms and dollar weakness that lift energy, materials and international financials.

## Frequently asked questions

**What is the current uS vs international equities?**

As of 11 Aug 2026, the US total market (VTI) line stands at 757.6 and the International ex-US (VXUS) line at 279.3 (both base = 100 at the shared start). The US total market (VTI) line is up 23.5% over the past year and above its long-run median of 250.6.

**How often is this benchmark updated?**

This benchmark is built on daily data. The page is refreshed when the source publishes new observations; the freshness block below the chart shows the exact data-through date and when PIER20 last fetched the file.

**What data sources does this chart use?**

The chart is built from US total market (VTI) and International ex-US (VXUS), sourced from Yahoo Finance.

**Have US stocks beaten international stocks?**

Yes, and by a wide margin. Since January 2011 the VTI line has risen to roughly 725 on the rebased scale while the VXUS line sits near 268, so the summary callout shows US equities leading international by roughly 170 percentage points. The gap is among the widest sustained US leadership periods in modern history.

**What does the US minus international spread mean?**

The summary callout measures how much the VTI line has outperformed (positive) or underperformed (negative) the VXUS line over the selected window, expressed as a percentage lead. A positive reading means US stocks have beaten international stocks; a negative reading would mean international has won. The spread is computed over whichever range you have selected.

**Why have US stocks beaten international so decisively?**

Three drivers worked together. US sector composition is heavily weighted toward technology, which has led every cycle since 2013. The dollar strengthened over much of the window, mechanically boosting VTI versus VXUS in dollar terms. And US corporate earnings grew faster than ex-US earnings. Disentangling them requires tracking the spread alongside a dollar index, since part of any US lead is currency rather than equity outperformance.

**Has international ever beaten the US in this window?**

Briefly. VXUS closed the gap meaningfully during 2016 and 2017, when emerging markets and Europe recovered together and the dollar weakened, and again briefly in 2022 when commodity-producing economies outperformed. But each convergence reversed, and the long-term trend has been widening US leadership driven by mega-cap technology.

## Methodology

- Formula: VTI and VXUS adjusted close indexed to 100 at the shared start
- Frequency: Daily
- Sources: US total market (VTI) https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/VTI; International ex-US (VXUS) https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/VXUS. Data via Yahoo Finance.
- Data through: 11 Aug 2026
- Last refreshed: 11 Aug 2026

## Related benchmarks

- [Large caps vs small caps](https://pier20.com/benchmarks/large-vs-small-cap)
- [Growth vs value](https://pier20.com/benchmarks/growth-vs-value)
- [Nasdaq-100 vs broad market](https://pier20.com/benchmarks/nasdaq-vs-broad-market)
- [Equal-weight vs cap-weight](https://pier20.com/benchmarks/equal-vs-cap-weight)

Full interactive chart: https://pier20.com/benchmarks/us-vs-international
Disclaimer: research software output, not investment advice.