For now, the USA is the World leader , with China as the close second

American  corporations are superceding China from the world’s 500 biggest stocks(2010-2012), as an improving U.S. economy and investor confidence in free markets overcomes the lure of equities offering twice the profit growth.

U.S. corporations led by Apple Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) make up 171 of the top 500 with a market capitalization of $10.6 trillion, or 40.3 percent of the total, compared with 159 valued at $8.24 trillion in 2009, data compiled by Bloomberg show. PetroChina (857) Co. and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. lead the 24 Chinese firms worth $1.74 trillion qualifying today, down from 34 with a capitalization of $2.19 trillion.

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The S&P 500 rose 0.5 percent last week as U.S. leaders prepared to negotiate a budget deal, extending the 2012 gain to 13 percent. 

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Apple, which approached bankruptcy in 1997, is ranked No. 1 with a market capitalization of $550.6 billion. 

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Customers exit an Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) branch in Beijing

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China’s share of the world’s biggest companies diminished even though its government-directed economy has continued to expand while the U.S. and Europe showed anemic growth during the past four years. While the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) doubled since reaching a 12-year low in March 2009, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 6.5 percent on concern state ownership of business means investors aren’t the first priority. Valuations for Chinese companies declined to half of those in the U.S.

“The discount in valuation is reflective of not having very specific private-property laws in Chin Baltimore-based Legg Mason Inc., said in a Nov. 27 phone interview. His firm oversees $646 billion. “There’s no guarantee that what the company owns, the company will be able to keep in the long run. The U.S. is in a better position.”