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S&P 500's Best Nine-Month Since 1997: Winning ETFs & Stocks
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The S&P 500 just recorded its best year-to-date performance at September's end since 1997. The S&P also enjoyed its best quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021. Over the last three months, the Dow led the major indexes' gains, up 8.2%. The S&P gained 5.4%, and the Nasdaq added nearly 3% (read: 9 Top Global ETF Trends So Far This Year).
The artificial intelligence (AI) craze, the Federal Reserve's solid interest rate cut and a steady US economy have boosted investors’ confidence, helping stocks post three successive weekly wins. The final trading day of the month and the quarter also came with profit taking and rebalancing. However, geopolitical tensions and the sell-off in tech stocks weighed on investors’ confidence occasionally.
Gold Touches Record High
Gold has been on a solid ascent, hitting a series of new highs driven by the Fed rate cut optimism, a likelihood of falling greenback, strong physical buying from central banks and the Middle East geopolitical tensions, which raised the appeal for gold as a store of wealth. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD - Free Report) has added about 28.5% so far this year (as of Sept. 27, 2024).
Outlook for Semiconductors: Mixed But Optimistic
The AI mania, after starting the year on a strong note, faltered in the middle on fears that some AI investments will take longer to pay off. AI king NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) shares, although up 151% this year, lost 3.4% past month.
Despite recent fluctuations, industry experts like Daniel Newman, CEO of the Futurum Group, and Bob O’Donnell, founder of TECHnalysis Research, maintain a positive long-term outlook for the sector, per a Yahoo Finance article.
China Rolls Out Stimulus
On Sept. 24, 2024, China's central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), announced a broad range of monetary stimulus measures aimed at boosting the world's second-largest economy. This move indicates growing concern within Xi Jinping's administration over the nation’s slowing growth and declining investor confidence.
ECB Cuts Rates
The European Central Bank (ECB) finally cut its key interest rate in June, marking the first reduction since September 2019. This move brought the rate down from its previous record of 4% to 3.75%, which has been maintained since September 2023. Then the ECB cut rates for the second time in three months in September. The reduction, to 3.5% from 3.75%, came on the heels of cooling inflation.
S&P 500 ETF Winners of the First Nine Months of 2024
The underlying S&P 500 Index is composed of five hundred selected stocks, all of which are listed on national stock exchanges and span over 25 separate industry groups. The fund charges 9 bps in fees.
The underlying S&P 500 Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market. The fund charges 3 bps in fees.
S&P 500 Stock Winners of the First Nine Months of 2024
Vistra (VST) – Up 205.6% YTD
Vistra Energy Corp. is an energy company. It offers electricity and power generation, distribution and transmission solutions. Vistra Energy Corp. is based in Dallas, United States. The stock has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
NVIDIA Corporation is the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphic processing unit, or GPU. Over the years, the company’s focus has evolved from PC graphics to artificial intelligence (AI) based solutions that now support high performance computing (HPC), gaming and virtual reality (VR) platforms.
Palantir Technologies Inc. builds and deploys software platforms for the intelligence community principally in the United States. Palantir Technologies Inc. is based in Denver, Colorado.
Image: Bigstock
S&P 500's Best Nine-Month Since 1997: Winning ETFs & Stocks
The S&P 500 just recorded its best year-to-date performance at September's end since 1997. The S&P also enjoyed its best quarter since the fourth quarter of 2021. Over the last three months, the Dow led the major indexes' gains, up 8.2%. The S&P gained 5.4%, and the Nasdaq added nearly 3% (read: 9 Top Global ETF Trends So Far This Year).
The artificial intelligence (AI) craze, the Federal Reserve's solid interest rate cut and a steady US economy have boosted investors’ confidence, helping stocks post three successive weekly wins. The final trading day of the month and the quarter also came with profit taking and rebalancing. However, geopolitical tensions and the sell-off in tech stocks weighed on investors’ confidence occasionally.
Gold Touches Record High
Gold has been on a solid ascent, hitting a series of new highs driven by the Fed rate cut optimism, a likelihood of falling greenback, strong physical buying from central banks and the Middle East geopolitical tensions, which raised the appeal for gold as a store of wealth. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD - Free Report) has added about 28.5% so far this year (as of Sept. 27, 2024).
Outlook for Semiconductors: Mixed But Optimistic
The AI mania, after starting the year on a strong note, faltered in the middle on fears that some AI investments will take longer to pay off. AI king NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) shares, although up 151% this year, lost 3.4% past month.
Despite recent fluctuations, industry experts like Daniel Newman, CEO of the Futurum Group, and Bob O’Donnell, founder of TECHnalysis Research, maintain a positive long-term outlook for the sector, per a Yahoo Finance article.
China Rolls Out Stimulus
On Sept. 24, 2024, China's central bank, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), announced a broad range of monetary stimulus measures aimed at boosting the world's second-largest economy. This move indicates growing concern within Xi Jinping's administration over the nation’s slowing growth and declining investor confidence.
ECB Cuts Rates
The European Central Bank (ECB) finally cut its key interest rate in June, marking the first reduction since September 2019. This move brought the rate down from its previous record of 4% to 3.75%, which has been maintained since September 2023. Then the ECB cut rates for the second time in three months in September. The reduction, to 3.5% from 3.75%, came on the heels of cooling inflation.
S&P 500 ETF Winners of the First Nine Months of 2024
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY - Free Report)
The underlying S&P 500 Index is composed of five hundred selected stocks, all of which are listed on national stock exchanges and span over 25 separate industry groups. The fund charges 9 bps in fees.
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO - Free Report)
The underlying S&P 500 Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market. The fund charges 3 bps in fees.
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV - Free Report)
The underlying S&P 500 Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the U.S. equity market. The fund charges 3 bps in fees.
S&P 500 Stock Winners of the First Nine Months of 2024
Vistra (VST) – Up 205.6% YTD
Vistra Energy Corp. is an energy company. It offers electricity and power generation, distribution and transmission solutions. Vistra Energy Corp. is based in Dallas, United States. The stock has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
The stock hails from a top-ranked (top 15%) Utility - Electric Power Industry and top-ranked (top 19%) Utilities Sector.
NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) ) – Up 145.1% YTD
NVIDIA Corporation is the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphic processing unit, or GPU. Over the years, the company’s focus has evolved from PC graphics to artificial intelligence (AI) based solutions that now support high performance computing (HPC), gaming and virtual reality (VR) platforms.
The stock comes from a top-ranked (top 40%) Semiconductor – General Industry and top-ranked (top 50%) Computer and Technology sector.
Palantir Technologies (PLTR - Free Report) ) – Up 114.6% YTD
Palantir Technologies Inc. builds and deploys software platforms for the intelligence community principally in the United States. Palantir Technologies Inc. is based in Denver, Colorado.
The stock comes from a top-ranked (top 26%) Technology Services Industry and top-ranked (top 38%) Business Services sector.