“Technology continues to be a key enabler of higher productivity and home to many of the fastest growing companies,” said Scott Brown, a technical strategist at LPL Financial. “So does this mean investors should be shifting all of their assets over to growth stocks again? We don’t necessarily think so, and continue to find opportunities in both growth and value styles.”
The next six months could see the S&P 500 hitting 5,200 in an environment of reduced monetary stimulus and outperformance by cyclical companies, according to Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management. That would imply a rally of about 11% from current levels.
Read: FedEx Sees 10% Rise in Holiday Package Volume to Record Levels
Some other corporate highlights:
- After the close of regular trading, Applied Materials Inc. — the biggest maker of machinery used to manufacture semiconductors — delivered a weaker forecast than anticipated.
- U.S.-listed Chinese stocks slumped on Thursday after a disappointing revenue outlook from e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
- CVS Health Corp. rose after saying it will close 900 stores over the next three years, part of a plan to decrease its store density in some areas.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. economists said they now expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next September, becoming the latest on Wall Street to jettison a forecast for the central bank to stay on hold through 2022. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts said last month they expect a Fed hike in July. Their counterparts at Morgan Stanley still see officials not shifting rates throughout next year.
Read: Biden’s Oil Price Approach Is Working, and He Hasn’t Even Acted
What to watch this week:
- Fed’s Richard Clarida and Mary Daly speak at Asia Economic Policy Conference. Friday
Stocks
- The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
- The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%
- The MSCI World index was little changed
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
- The euro rose 0.5% to $1.1372
- The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3501
- The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 114.24 per dollar
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 1.58%
- Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to -0.28%
- Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 0.92%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to $78.67 a barrel
- Gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,864.50 an ounce

Comments - Please login in order to comment.