The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Ian de Verteuil, head of portfolio strategy at CIBC World Markets, offers some fascinating numbers on the vast gulf that has opened up between the 10 biggest stocks in the S&P 500 and the remaining 490 in the market benchmark. The Globe's Ian McGugan writes that the biggest 10 stocks typically account for between 15 and 25 per cent of the S&P 500's value. These days, though, they make up 30 per cent. The S&P 500's top-heavy tilt attests to the growing passion for a handful of already giant stocks. The lofty valuations suggest investors may be suffering from an outbreak of irrational exuberance. In contrast, the remaining stocks in the index -- the S&P 490, let's call them -- trade for 16 times their forward earnings. That is pretty much where they have consistently traded over the past few decades. The tech rally of recent months has focused nearly exclusively on seven huge companies that are expected to benefit from the artificial intelligence boom -- Tesla, Amazon, Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet. Investors who want to avoid the possibility of a second dotcom-like disappointment may decide to sidestep the allure of today's AI titans.