Latest news with #MadisonMills
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why strategists are boosting their S&P 500 year-end targets
Several Wall Street analysts are turning bullish on US stocks, boosting their year-end targets for the S&P 500 (^GSPC). Keith Lerner, Truist co–chief investment officer and chief market strategist, joins Morning Brief with Madison Mills and Brad Smith to explain why he, too, has boosted his S&P 500 year-end target. He also notes that the technology sector and artificial intelligence (AI) are "back in the forefront" of investors' minds. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here. It's time now for today's strategy session. Analysts across Wall Street are turning bullish on US stocks. Multiple strategists boosting their year-end 2025 targets on the S&P 500 after stocks recovered from their tariff induced sell-off. Joining us now, we've got one of the strategists boosting his target, Keith Lerner, Truist co-chief investment officer and chief market strategist and good friend of the show. Keith, good to see you here. Just take us into the thesis behind why you're now raising your targets as well. Yeah, great to be with you all. Maybe I'll take take a step back for some context. Back in February, we were around all-time highs. We downgraded equities, and then as towards the lows, we told our clients to rebalance, that you should start thinking about upside risk. On the initial rebound, when we had the rebound, we actually modestly took some off the table in hindsight somewhat prematurely, but at that time our work was suggesting that recession risk was still relatively high. After that, China kind of walked back. So, now as we kind of reset and say, okay, where are we at right now in the way of the evidence in our work suggests at least more of a neutral posture overall. And as we look at things, one, the rebound off of this low is actually a positive sign when you look off six months later. Instead of recession, you know, being say 50%, I think our our base case is more of a muddle through. And something that's changed in since February when we first downgraded stocks was earnings forward earning estimates for the S&P. Back in February was starting to move down. That's part of the reason why we downgraded stocks. Now they have inflected higher. A lot of that is being driven by tech and communications, and that's the final point. We had all this tariff uncertainty, right? The big T was tariffs. I think what the market has found over the last few months is the other T technology and AI, which has been the dominant theme of this bull market, is back in the forefront. Yeah, Keith, really excited to get your thoughts on the tech sector specifically, which as you mentioned you did upgrade as part of this. To what degree do we continue to learn the lesson from investors that you can rest on your laurels of the MAG 7 stocks, those big tech stocks, regardless of the broader market activity, and how how bullish does that make you? Sure. Well, the first thing I will say, we've been overweight communication services, which is kind of also an AI play all year long. We added to tech, and I think what's also important with tech, I know a lot of times we're looking at how much we've moved from the lows for the market and tech, but if you look at the S&P technology sector since last July, we're flat. And you spoke about Nvidia earlier, that's also only up modestly since last July as well. So, if you look at the big picture for the overall market, the S&P, we were flat for seven months for the technology sector flat for almost a year. So I think as we test these kind of technical levels and you I think eventually we will break above that, there's probably some pain trade. That's why I just want to be clear too, I mean, we are starting with higher valuations for the overall market, so I think there could be a squeeze higher, but I don't know that we're off to the races. I certainly expect there'll be some bumps along the way, especially in the summer where we see some illiquidity along the way, but I think in general, the underlying trend is still positive and we want to stick with that underlying trend. Okay, you started to answer my question, which was around valuation, so I'll tap more into that illiquidity. Does that mean low volume during the summer means more volatility in this interim period of time? Yeah, well, I think what could happen is, well, I'm hoping for the some some adult drums, right? After what we've seen the first half, like some boring trade would be actually probably good. But I think what can happen is if you get some unexpected headlines, a lot of people on vacation, there's less liquidity, that I think you can see moves exacerbated as well. And there's an old saying, sell in May and go go away, but that's actually incorrect. What happens really, the market tends to do well until July, and then that's when you start to see more seasonal weakness as you get into August and September. So, I think that's something to be kind of on on the lookout for. Um and again, for the economy, we expect more of a muddle through, so this isn't to our view, like, hey, this is time to be on all offense, but again, I think for investors and even like, you know, people watching the show today, I think we'd be more aligned with long-term talking equity allocations, again, not overly, you know, on offense or defense, but the underlying trend again, I think we have to respect it. Right, don't fight the tape, it sounds like, is what you're saying, Keith. But I wonder to what extent you feel that investors are somewhat post-tariff, and instead focused on the moves of the Federal Reserve, especially given that we are seeing such a strong market reaction to that cooler than expected inflation print this morning. Does today's market action show that the Trump that the market is moving from being Trump driven to Fed driven? You know, I would almost say neither. I mean, they're both important, but I think I think the way I think about it is for some period of time, tariffs were the only thing that mattered. And I think we're finding out today, a lot of other factors matter. So tariffs still matter, just not the same degree. The Fed still matters, but not the same degree. And I think the thing with the Fed right now, the reason why I say it matters, but it's, you know, even if you look at the Fed funds futures, what the market is pricing in, the first rate cut is September. So think about where we are today, we're still in June. There's a lot of time between now and September where the Fed really comes back into play in a meaningful way. I think this is a step in the right direction, showing CPI coming down. I think there's still some lingering questions, are we going to see some changes in the inflation data as some of the tariff impact comes in? I think that's an open question as well. So in the interim, I do think, you know, I mean, I do think the economic data matters a lot, meaning there was a lot of concern about recession earlier on. Are we going to see some air pockets over the couple next couple months? Is it going to still show some resiliency? So like, it looks like the weekly jobless claims are going to be important, the employment picture is going to be important, the inflation trends and the Fed. So again, I think all these things matter, but I don't think it's as as just specific, like this is the main thing that the market is now focusing on. And again, going back broader picture, back to the conversation, tech matters and what what happens on the technical side as well. 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Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ethereum ETFs extend record inflows: What's behind crypto demand
Ethereum (ETH-USD) ETFs have seen consecutive weeks of record inflows since being approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission last year. SVP of content and editor in chief Kristin Myers sits down with Madison Mills for a conversation about the investor draw these crypto funds have proven to have as the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) soars past $70 billion in assets under management as bitcoin (BTC-USD) re-approaches its record high. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. Just under a year after being approved by the SEC, Ethereum ETFs had a record seventh consecutive week of inflows, bringing in $326 million in the past week alone. To break down the risk on rally, I want to bring in Kristen Myers, SVP of content and editor-in-chief for this week's ETF report brought to you by Invesco QQQ. Great to have you this morning, Kristen. Talk to me about what the inflows into these ETFs are indicating to you about risk sentiment. Yeah. So, frankly, people are being very risk-on, particularly when it comes to cryptocurrency, and that's because the SEC has made some comments lately, all in regards to cryptocurrency staking, you know, where folks can essentially allow their cryptocurrency to earn rewards for them by validating either the Ethereum or Bitcoin networks. Now, it was unclear what the SEC and what regulators were going to say in regards to staking, particularly when it comes to these ETFs, but it seems that the SEC might actually be pretty favorable towards staking, and that is why we're really seeing a lot of these crypto ETFs, particularly around Ethereum, really pulling in a lot of money. Now, you kind of mentioned, uh, broadly, we've seen $326 million of inflows into Ethereum ETFs or into Ether ETFs. ETHA, that is the iShares Ethereum Trust Etha. It pulled in over 300 million of that $326 million just last week alone. And so really, a lot of folks are piling a lot of money into particularly, again, that Ether ETF as they're really, really wanting to be risk-on when it comes to cryptocurrency. And they're also seeing a little bit of grabbing some of the outflows that we saw from the spot Bitcoin ETFs. That has been moving over to Ethereum, again, Ethereum really becomes a sort of mainstream crypto asset. And to what degree do you expect those flows to continue going forward? Yeah, that's a really, really good question because what we're seeing with cryptocurrency is a little bit interesting. These are not assets that are totally mature, and there's a lot of questions how these assets are going to perform in a portfolio. For example, when it comes to Bitcoin, there's still a question of whether it is digital gold, for example. And as we see a lot of volatility in the markets around trade and around inflation, recession risk and the Fed, investors really need to decide how they want these assets to perform in their portfolio. And that question, or rather the answer to that question will really truly decide how we're going to see the inflows into these assets either continue. Now, I will say this, we are continuing to see the inflows into these assets, particularly as these assets continue to grow in terms of value. So I don't see this trend happening anytime soon, but I do think it will be a little bit of a roller coaster ride for investors going forward. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ethereum ETFs extend record inflows: What's behind crypto demand
Ethereum (ETH-USD) ETFs have seen consecutive weeks of record inflows since being approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission last year. SVP of content and editor in chief Kristin Myers sits down with Madison Mills for a conversation about the investor draw these crypto funds have proven to have as the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) soars past $70 billion in assets under management as bitcoin (BTC-USD) re-approaches its record high. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AI's agentic era will augment worker capacities: Cisco president
Meta Platforms (META) is planning to invest $14 billion into artificial intelligence infrastructure developer Scale AI in a new deal reported by CNBC, the latest headline in the AI Revolution as more firms adopt AI agents onto their platforms. Cisco Systems (CSCO) President and Chief Product Officer Jeetu Patel comes on Catalysts to speak with Madison Mills on the company's investments and acquisition of AI firms, the adoption of AI applications in the workforce, and expansion plans. Catch RBC Capital Markets managing director Rishi Jaluria share his perspective on the software environment and AI adoption amid the Trump administration's economic policies. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CPI data: Fed rate cuts are 'back in the conversation'
Bob Lang, Explosive Options technical analyst, joins Catalysts with Madison Mills to explain how May's positive Consumer Price Index (CPI) report marks the third consecutive month of cooling inflation data, and how that factors into the Federal Reserve's decisions on rate cuts next week and all year. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
