sam stovall

U.S. stocks could see a weak opening on Tuesday after the averages registered a mixed last week. While the S&P 500 and Dow Jones snapped their six-week winning streak, the Nasdaq Composite chalked its seventh straight week of gains. Earning news flow will continue to pick up momentum in the...

Friday’s report on inflation indicated that prices are beginning to moderate as consumer spending continues to exceed expectations and the economy remains resilient, according to economists. “This is a double dose of good news on inflation and economic growth. Inflation prints are...

The stock market’s robust performance in the first quarter of 2024 has investors on edge, with experts predicting a potentially “frightful yet fulfilling” year-end. What Happened: The S&P 500 is on course for a nearly 10% price gain in the first quarter, with a staggering 30%...

Sam Stovall, the chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, believes the U.S. will see a 1% growth in GDP on Thursday. “We’re going to find out on Thursday whether we do end up with a second consecutive decline in GDP growth. Our belief is that we’re going to see...

Among individual investment factors, growth is proving sturdy this year. While some investors are waiting on a value resurgence, the iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSE: IVW) is up more than 19 percent year to date, well ahead of the S&P 500. IVW, which tracks the S&P 500 Growth Index, has...

When it comes to sector-level bets on rising interest rates, many investors believe the best place to go is to financial services. Indeed, the second-largest sector weight in the S&P 500 is home to some industries that are positively correlated to rising Treasury yields. Insurance providers and...

Underscoring this year's renaissance in cyclical sectors, the Materials Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLB) is up more than 15 percent, a showing that is good for third among the sector SPDR exchange-traded funds. The two SPDRs outpacing XLB this year are cyclical funds, those tracking the energy...

Past performance is never a guarantee of future returns, but some of the exchange-traded funds that delivered for investors in the first half of the year could continue doing so in the second half. What worked for investors in the first half of 2016 includes, most notably, fixed income and gold...

Low volatility exchange-traded funds are doing what they are supposed to do this year. With the S&P 500 down 5 percent to start 2016, low volatility ETFs, such as the iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility ETF (iShares Trust (NYSE: USMV)), are proving notably less worse than the broader market....

Tuesday marks the start of December, and with the arrival of the last month of the year imminent, there has been plenty of chatter about the seasonal efficacy of small-cap stocks and corresponding exchange-traded funds. Of course, it is the January Effect that spurs increased small-cap chatter at...

The healthcare sector has rebounded enough in recent days to put the Health Care SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLV) back into the group of two sector SPDR exchange-traded funds that are sporting year-to-date gains. In the case of XLV, that ETF's 2015 gains are modest at 1.1 percent heading into Tuesday...

The Federal Reserve faces a tougher task than usual when it pulls up around the conference table this week. The challenge of the Fed’s next chapter extends to long-term investors who’ve spent the better part of the year thinking and rethinking the next course for interest rates and...

The health care sector is no longer just a corner of the stock market for investors to play defense. This category has chalked up the best performance in the S&P 500 index (SPX) year to date, climbing 9.2% through May 22 (versus a 3.3% gain for the S&P 500). Plus, it’s been the...

Stock of Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) plummeted heavily on Tuesday on back of the online leak of the company's quarterly results and the revenue and guidance coming in worse than expectations. Revenue for the quarter came at $436 million, while analysts were expecting $456.8 million. Sam...

Sam Stovall, the chief investment strategist at Standard & Poor is mildly bullish. He was on Nightly Business Report last night. The investment committee at S&P, in which Stovall sits on, recently raised the 12 month target for the 500, and is looking for a double-digit gain about a year...