Despite a banking crisis, historically high interest rates, endless recession predictions, and geopolitical turmoil, stocks have shown resilience, with the S&P 500 up nearly 7% year-to-date. Here are the must-have stocks.
What is driving market performance at the moment?
In an interview with CNN, Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, said that this year’s rally of S&P 500 stocks has been driven by a small group, while the remaining 480 or so stocks have basically remained unchanged.
“This is not a broad-based rally where all stocks go up but instead a rally concentrated in a few of the largest stocks by market cap, mainly tech names,” Slok told CNN. “The implication for investors is that this market is not driven by broad-based higher growth expectations but instead by what has happened with rates, in particular after [Silicon Valley Bank] went under.”
Growth tech stocks
The following are the must-have stocks in the tech sector leading the way in growth. Here were their numbers at press time:
1. Apple (AAPL): 164.66/+0.55%
2. Microsoft (MSFT): 291.60/+2.553%
3. Alphabet (GOOGL): 108.42/+3.781%
4. Amazon (AMZN): 102.06/+0.95%
5. Tesla (TSLA): 185.06/+0.25%
6. Meta (FB): 216.1/+2.18%
S&P 500 stocks with the most growth
The following stocks were driving the vast majority of growth on the S&P 500. Here were their numbers at press time:
1. Nvidia (NVDA): 270.37/+0.58%
2. Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA): 478,005.00/+1.38%
3. Visa (V): 225.99/-0.955%
4. Exxon Mobil (XOM): 115.05/+1.66%
5. UnitedHealth Group (UNH): 512.81/+0.703%
6. Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): 165.15/-0.278%
7. Walmart (WMT): 150.8/+0.755%
8. JPMorgan Chase (JPM): 127.47/-0.11%
9. Procter & Gamble (PG): 152.22/+0.635%
10. Mastercard (MA): 361.47/-0.64%
11. Eli Lilly & Co (LLY): 368.29/+1.67%
12. Chevron (CVX): 167.65/-1.31%
13. Home Depot (HD): 288.61/-0.02%
Market is currently expensive
CNN interviewed Patrick Kaser, a portfolio manager from Brandywine Global, who pointed out that there has been a big flight toward big tech stocks, but overall, the top-performing stocks are an expensive buy-in based on traditional valuation metrics.
“We’ve had this weird pause over the last three weeks where analysts haven’t been updating earnings estimates because of the banking turmoil,” Kaser said. “Those are undoubtedly going to come.”
“There’s currently a false sense of security that things won’t change, but a lot of the data under the surface is probably pointing towards higher odds of recession,” Kaser added. “This is not a favorable starting point for stocks as we think about the next few months.”
