The next few weeks will give Wall Street a clear reading on whether this latest stock market rally will continue - or if it's doomed to get derailed. Jobs reports, a key inflation reading and the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision all hit over the next 14 trading sessions, setting the tone for investors as they return from summer vacations.
The S&P 500 etched its name in history yesterday, closing at a new all-time high of 6,501.86, despite investor concern about Nvidia's ( NASDAQ:NVDA ) earnings and doubts about the ongoing AI boom. It's been a rollercoaster year marked by fears of inflation, rising Treasury yields, and geopolitical tensions, yet the index has scaled a "wall of worry," defying skeptics with a 10% gain so far this year.
High-yield ETFs have been quite the buzz this year. While covered call ETFs (or premium income, as some are referred to) are really nothing new for the world of passive investors, I do think that many of the swollen yields have attracted investor attention due to the lower (and falling) yields, particularly in the defensive dividend stocks, which have also had decent years. Indeed, there seems to be somewhat less yield going around, and not enough to satiate some of the more aggressive passive income investors out there.
A far less famous ETF has delivered 20.14% in gains year-to-date (~130% better than the VOO). This is even better than the 10.4% that the QQQ returned. The Invesco S&P 500 Momentum ETF (NYSEARCA:SPMO ) is the ETF in question. It still invests inside the S&P 500, but the index re-weights and puts extra money into the names with the strongest price momentum, cutting loose the laggards.
Corporate America is on the brink of a radical transformation as artificial intelligence adoption could unlock nearly $1 trillion a year in savings, according to a sweeping new analysis by Morgan Stanley. The bank calculates 90% of jobs will be touched in some way by AI automation or augmentation, with cost savings flowing directly from reduced headcount, natural attrition, and automation of knowledge-intensive but routine tasks.
The S&P 500 is up 10% year-to-date, powered by the 'Magnificent Seven' tech giants whose foreign-heavy revenues are being boosted by the weaker dollar. Concentration in the top 10 stocks is at its highest since the 1960s, with earnings strength - 83% of companies beating estimates - driving sentiment.
The S&P 500 experienced a pullback of 0.49% amid growing uncertainties surrounding the U.S. economy and global conditions, driven by weak economic data and geopolitical risks.
The top 10 stocks contribute 54% of market returns since January 2021, with the Magnificent Seven driving significant risk exposure for investors.
The effect of those tariffs is already starting a drag on the economy... spending likely rose at an annualized pace of only about 1½% in the first half this year, well below last year's 3% average.
Despite the ongoing uncertainties in the market, including geopolitical tensions and tariffs, U.S. equities are bouncing back, showing signs of resilience under current conditions.
Within the S&P 500, our High Sharpe Ratio basket contains companies with the highest prospective risk-adjusted returns relative to their sector peers. The basket's median constituent has a prospective risk-adjusted return of 0.9.
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