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Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
1 Magnificent Vanguard ETF to Confidently Buy With $600 During the Stock Market Rebound
The S&P 500 is on the road to recovery after plunging by as much as 19% from its all-time high in April. Information technology is the dominant sector in the S&P 500, and it's home to trillion-dollar giants like Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple. The Vanguard Information Technology ETF can help investors gain broad exposure to powerful trends like artificial intelligence (AI). 10 stocks we like better than Vanguard Information Technology ETF › The S&P 500 was down by as much as 19% from its all-time high after President Trump announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs on April 2. But it erased those losses since then because several countries have come to the table to negotiate new trade deals and the federal Court of International Trade ruled many of the tariffs were illegal, lowering the odds of an economic downturn. The S&P 500 is the most diversified of the major U.S. stock market indexes, hosting 500 companies from 11 sectors of the economy. But information technology is the largest sector in the index by far, representing 31.7% of its total market capitalization (value). It's home to the world's three largest companies: Microsoft, Nvidia, and Apple, which are worth a combined $9.85 trillion. The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (NYSEMKT: VGT) is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that invests exclusively in information technology stocks. It outperformed the S&P 500 every year, on average, since it was established in 2004, on the back of powerful technological trends like cloud computing, enterprise software, and now artificial intelligence (AI). Investors can buy one share in the Vanguard Information Technology ETF for around $600, and here's why it might be a good move as the broader market continues to recover. The Vanguard Information Technology ETF invests across the entire information technology sector, whether companies are in the S&P 500 or not. As a result, it currently holds 307 stocks spread across 12 subsegments of the sector. The semiconductor segment has the largest weighting in the ETF at 26.8%, followed by systems software at 21% and technology hardware and storage at 18.8%. Companies like Nvidia and Broadcom are the main reason the semiconductor segment has such a dominant representation. Both companies are leading suppliers of data center chips and components specifically designed for AI development, and they are experiencing more demand than they can possibly meet right now. As a result, Nvidia stock soared 1,490% over the last five years, catapulting the company to a $3.45 trillion valuation. Broadcom stock is up 726% over the same period, and the company is now worth $1.1 trillion. But Nvidia, Broadcom, Microsoft, and Apple aren't the only leading AI stocks in the Vanguard ETF. It holds dozens of others that typically receive less attention but are of very high quality, and here are just a few of them: Stock Vanguard ETF Portfolio Weighting Salesforce 1.75% Palantir Technologies 1.73% Oracle 1.59% ServiceNow 1.36% Adobe 1.14% Advanced Micro Devices 1.09% Palo Alto Networks 0.87% CrowdStrike 0.75% Micron Technology 0.61% Snowflake 0.38% Data source: Vanguard. Portfolio weightings are accurate as of April 30, 2025, and are subject to change. Salesforce developed the world's most popular customer relationship management (CRM) platform, where businesses can store client data and track sales. But it has a growing portfolio of AI products like Einstein, a powerful virtual assistant that can write sales emails, instantly summarize phone calls with customers, and produce data-driven insights to help employees drive more revenue. Palantir developed a series of AI-powered software platforms like Foundry, Gotham, and AIP, which help businesses and governments extract more value from their data. Then there is Oracle, which is building some of the most advanced and cost-efficient data centers in the world for developing AI models. Advanced Micro Devices launched a series of graphics processing units (GPUs) for the data center to compete with Nvidia, and it's having quite a bit of success. Micron, on the other hand, makes memory and storage chips, which are increasingly important for processing AI workloads. In fact, Micron's high-bandwidth memory can be found in Nvidia's most powerful GPUs. Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike are two of the world's biggest cybersecurity companies, and AI is central to almost all of their products. It enables their respective platforms to automate tasks like threat detection and incident response, which reduces the workload on human cybersecurity managers and ensures fewer threats slip through the cracks. The Vanguard Information Technology ETF delivered a compound annual return of 12.8% since it was established in 2004, so it has heavily outperformed the S&P 500, which has returned 9.6% per year, on average, over the same period. That 3.2 percentage point difference might not sound like much at face value, but over a long-term period of 22 years, it would result in double the return in dollar terms thanks to the effects of compounding. I'm not suggesting investors should put all of their eggs in one basket, because the technology sector can be very volatile. However, young investors who can afford to take some risk might benefit from a larger allocation to this high-growth segment of the market, especially as megatrends like AI unfold. An investor who placed $50,000 in the S&P 500 in 2004 would be sitting on $342,761 today. But had they split that $50,000 equally and placed $25,000 in the S&P 500 and $25,000 in the Vanguard Information Technology ETF, they would have $485,019 today. That's a life-changing difference in potential returns over the long run. There is a risk that AI fails to live up to the hype, which would dent the valuations of many of the companies in the information technology sector. However, several companies are successfully monetizing AI in its current state already, and its capabilities are only expected to improve from here. As a result, the Vanguard Information Technology ETF might be a great buy right now for long-term investors. Before you buy stock in Vanguard Information Technology ETF, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Vanguard Information Technology ETF wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $651,761!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $826,263!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 978% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 170% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of May 19, 2025 Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Adobe, Advanced Micro Devices, Apple, CrowdStrike, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, Palantir Technologies, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and Snowflake. The Motley Fool recommends Broadcom and Palo Alto Networks and recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 1 Magnificent Vanguard ETF to Confidently Buy With $600 During the Stock Market Rebound was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
Irish Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
European stocks fall amid weak economic data
European stocks fell on Thursday amid concerns over the economic outlook on both sides of the Atlantic. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.6 per cent lower, logging its biggest single-day fall since early April, and retreated further from a two-month high touched earlier this week. Investors have been grappling with lack of progress on trade deals as well as US president Donald Trump's sweeping tax cut plans, which have raised concerns about ballooning US debt and sent government bond yields surging. Adding to the dour mood, HCOB's preliminary composite euro zone Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to 49.5 this month from 50.4 in April, and the bloc's dominant services industry suffered a deeper downturn in demand in a clear sign of the impact of US tariffs on the euro zone economy. READ MORE DUBLIN The Iseq All-Share index closed 0.6 per cent lower at 11,326.58, having closed at an all-time record on Wednesday. 'There's a bit of nervousness around how large the US deficit has been structurally for a given period of time. You're going to have a very uncertain picture with regards to growth and a certain outlook for deteriorating public finances,' said Iain Barnes, chief investment officer at Netwealth. Banks were out of sorts, with AIB down 0.6 per cent at €6.64 and Bank of Ireland off 0.2 at €11.94, with news flow from latter's annual general meeting (agm) giving little for investors to get excited about. Still, tourism related plays were in demand, with Dalata Hotel Group up 2.9 per cent at €5.71 and Irish Continental Group adding 1.2 per cent to €5.30. LONDON The FTSE 100 fell 0.5 per cent amid broad-based declines as concerns over a deteriorating fiscal outlook in the US and a higher-than-expected UK government budget deficit dampened investor sentiment on risk assets. In the UK, data showed the government borrowed more than expected in April, indicating continued pressure on public finances. Following this, UK government bonds underperformed earlier in the day, underlining unease among investors about the country's stretched finances. Energy subindex fell 1.5 per cent as oil prices dropped by more than 1 per cent. Heavyweight Shell and BP dragged the FTSE 100 down, both slipping 1.5 per cent. Budget airline EasyJet slipped 2.6 per cent after reporting half-year results. British Land fell 5.4 per cent and was among the top losers on the mid-cap index due to a tepid earnings forecast. On the flip side, Johnson Matthey posted its highest gain in nearly a year, up 30.7 per cent, after the chemicals firm agreed to sell its catalyst technologies business to Honeywell International. EUROPE Tomb Raider owner Embracer fell 17 per cent to the bottom of the benchmark index after it forecast slight revenue growth and broadly unchanged earnings for its fiscal 2025/26 and said that at least one of its nine AAA game releases slated for the following two financial years would be pushed back. Freenet AG slid 16.7 per cent after the German telecoms firm reported its first-quarter numbers. NEW YORK The S&P 500 struggled for direction in early afternoon trading after the US House of Representatives passed Mr Trump's tax and spending bill, expected to burden the federal government with trillions of dollars in extra debt, by a razor-thin margin. If what Mr Trump has described as a 'big, beautiful bill' becomes law, it is expected to add about $3.8 trillion to the country's $36.2 trillion debt in the next decade, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. The bill now faces a test in the Republican-controlled Senate and will fulfil much of Trump's populist agenda if passed, delivering new tax breaks on tips and car loans and boosting US military expenditure. Most megacap and growth stocks inched up. Alphabet led gains, touching a nearly three-month high. Shares of solar energy companies including First Solar fell as Mr Trump's tax bill is expected to end a number of green-energy subsidies. Snowflake jumped after the cloud computing firm raised its fiscal-year 2026 product revenue forecast. – Additional reporting, Reuters
Telegraph
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Trump has abandoned his own peace plan
First a caveat: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin were on the phone for two hours. Even allowing for the delay caused by translation between English and Russian, that is a lengthy call. And we do not know what else was said beyond the statements put out by the Kremlin and the White House. Nonetheless, the respective readouts are revealing. Mr Trump's focus on trade illustrates two things. First, he still does not seem to understand what Putin calls 'the root causes of the conflict' – or does not care about them. The Russian leader is driven by the goal of righting 'Lenin's mistake' of allowing Ukraine to exist, of addressing what he considers a fundamental challenge to Russia's existence as a great power, of restoring the old empire and Russia's place as one of the leading poles of power on the planet. Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine are driven by self-preservation. There remains an enormous gulf between those positions. Neither is the sort of thing you abandon on the offer of a trade deal. But Mr Trump's objective has always seemed to be less about peace in Ukraine, than normalising America's ties with Russia. Read with that in mind, his enthusiasm about the 'UNLIMITED' potential of 'TRADE' with Russia once peace comes makes more sense. That is consistent with much of his previous rhetoric, so it should be taken seriously. It suggests Mr Trump is impatient to ditch wartime sanctions on Russia sooner rather than later. That in turn implies the White House will push for a quick deal rather than a good deal, and that Russia will be able to rebuild its economic and thus military power more quickly than previously thought. Bad news for Ukraine and Europe. There is little here to suggest peace really is imminent, however. For while Putin agreed with Mr Trump that 'we are generally on the right track' for peace, he makes clear there are several stations to go through to get there. He spoke after the call not of imminent peace, but 'a memorandum on a possible future peace accord' including 'the principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement'. And of course, he said 'the main thing for us is to eliminate the root causes of this crisis'. Talks have resumed. The two sides met in Istanbul last week for the first time since 2022. But they could go on for a very long time. In the meantime, the fighting will continue, and troops on the ground will use force to make the diplomatic delegations 'take into account new realities' – another bit of Russian diplomatese, best translated as might makes right. Maybe the war will end this year. But don't hold your breath.
Reuters
19-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
No BRICS asset pile big enough to rival dollar, Brazil central bank director says
BRASILIA, May 19 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank does not see any realistic prospect of emerging nations in the BRICS group creating markets large enough to topple the U.S. dollar's dominance within the next 10 years, monetary policy director Nilton David said on Monday. There is not a meaningful stock of BRICS-denominated assets that could offset the dollar at the moment, David told a central bank webcast. "I don't think that will change over the coming decade," he added. The director acknowledged that alternative settlement tools could gain traction and help boost bilateral trade deals, but nowhere near enough to dislodge the dollar in any visible horizon. The BRICS acronym refers to the five major emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which have been working together to address global issues. The group recently added six other members. Reuters reported in February that Brazil's presidency of BRICS this year would shelve talk of a common currency, focusing instead on ways to trim dollar reliance, such as linking payment systems and exploring blockchain standards set by bodies like the Bank for International Settlements. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly cautioned the BRICS group - whose original members were Brazil, Russia, India and China - against attempts to challenge the supremacy of the dollar. Founded in 2009 and soon expanded to add South Africa, the group has recently included Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, making it a growing diplomatic counterweight to traditional Western powers. David also said he views bitcoin as "a speculative currency by nature," noting that Brazil's $340 billion foreign-exchange reserves remain overwhelmingly in dollars because nearly all of the country's external transactions are settled in the U.S. currency. According to the director, the central bank wants to preserve the liquidity and depth of its foreign-exchange market but it acknowledges that these features have side effects. David noted that the Brazilian real has a "natural" correlation with risk assets, making it more volatile. It is often the pivot for portfolio managers, he said, adding that this attracts investors who hold the currency only briefly, causing demand to swing sharply.
Al Jazeera
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
‘We discussed the world': US president, emir of Qatar speak in Doha
NewsFeed 'We discussed the world': US president, emir of Qatar speak in Doha After a signing trade and defence deals with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, US President Donald Trump told media in Doha that the two had also discussed the Russia-Ukraine war and Iran's nuclear programme.
