A 10-year U.S. Treasury bond now pays more income than 118 of America's biggest companies.
Apple Inc.
Nvidia makes the point fastest. The company pays a dividend yield of 0.46%. The 10-year Treasury pays roughly 4.7%.
That is more than ten times the cash return, from the federal government, with no earnings risk attached.
Nvidia is not the outlier. It is the norm.
Only 3.85% Of The S&P 500 Still Beats A Government Bond
A dividend yield is simply the annual cash a company pays out divided by its share price. If a $100 stock pays $2 a year, the yield is 2%.
For most of modern market history, a meaningful slice of the S&P 500 paid more of that cash than a Treasury bond did.
In July 2016, the figure hit 63.4%, a record outside the COVID-19 crash, according to Ned Davis Research data circulated by Charles Schwab strategist Liz Ann Sonders.
As of July 31, 2026, that share had collapsed to 3.85%.
That is the lowest reading since May 2007.
Put differently, roughly 96 out of every 100 companies in America's benchmark index now hand shareholders less annual income than a piece of government paper.
118 Names Above $100 Billion, Yield Less Than The 10-Year Bond
A Benzinga Pro screen of U.S. companies with market values above $100 billion returned 118 tickers yielding less than the current 10-year Treasury.
Company | Dividend Yield
- Micron Technology Inc.
(MU ) 0.06% - Quanta Services Inc.
(PWR ) 0.07% - Marvell Technology Inc.
(MRVL ) 0.10% - Western Digital Corp.
(WDC ) 0.13% - Progressive Corp.
(PGR ) 0.18% - Howmet Aerospace Inc.
(HWM ) 0.20% - Alphabet Inc. 0.26%
- Lam Research Corp.
(LRCX ) 0.34% - Apple Inc.0.34%
- Meta Platforms Inc.
(META ) 0.38% - Applied Materials Inc.
(AMAT ) 0.43% - Nvidia Corp.0.46%
- KLA Corp.
(KLAC ) 0.49% - Dell Technologies Inc.
(DELL ) 0.58% - Mastercard Inc.
(MA ) 0.61% - Costco Wholesale Corp.
(COST ) 0.63% - Amphenol Corp.
(APH ) 0.65% - Broadcom Inc. 0.71%
- Visa Inc.
(V ) 0.73%
