Close Close
Sign In
Newsletters
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
Podcast Center Video Center Webcasts Resource Center Events
About ThinkAdvisor Contact Us Advertise With Us Asset & Logo Licensing Sitemap Terms of Service Privacy Policy Copyright © 2024 ALM Global, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
ThinkAdvisor
S&P 500 US Stock market exchange index.

Portfolio > Portfolio Construction

5 Things to Look for in Stocks in 2024

By Jessica Menton, Elena Popina & Ishika Mookerjee

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

What You Need to Know

  • After a wild in 2023, investors are full of optimism for the S&P 500 Index in the year ahead.
  • One key challenge will be assessing the lagging impact of the Fed’s hiking cycle.

A wild 2023 for the U.S. stock market is drawing to a close, and investors are full of optimism for 2024 as the S&P 500 Index sits within striking distance of its first all-time high in nearly two years.

With the Federal Reserve signaling that it’s likely done raising interest rates to tame inflation, markets are increasingly focused on risks beyond monetary policy, such as the outlook for the economy, earnings and the November U.S. presidential election.

One key challenge for investors will be assessing the lagging impact of the Fed’s hiking cycle, which has Wall Street strategists split on where stocks are headed next year.

Of course, many were caught on the wrong side in 2023, as they predicted gloom and doom but the S&P 500 jumped more than 24% despite bank collapses, recession fears and the highest borrowing costs in decades.

Here’s a look at five key themes for traders in 2024:

1. Rate-Cut Timing

Wall Street Targets | Equity strategists see the S&P 500 ending 2024 just 1% above current levels

Equities have drawn support in recent months from growing speculation that the Fed will start lowering borrowing costs by mid-2024. Markets are pricing in earlier and deeper rate cuts, with swaps traders wagering that the central bank will reduce rates by roughly 150 basis points next year, double the forecast of Fed officials.

The S&P 500 is less than 0.5% away from a closing record last reached on Jan. 3, 2022. It’s also roughly 1% below the average full-year gain predicted by nearly two dozen analysts in a survey published on Dec. 19, which forecast the index would end 2024 at 4,833.

2. Big Tech’s Growth Status

From Nvidia Corp. to Microsoft Corp., the seven-largest US tech stocks were responsible for 64% of the S&P 500’s rally this year through last week as the artificial-intelligence frenzy took off.

The Magnificent Seven — which also includes Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Tesla Inc. — are expected to post 22% earnings growth next year, twice the S&P 500’s advance, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show.

The key is how much of that is already baked into share prices, especially with expectations for a soft landing building.

Profit Lead for Seven Biggest Stocks Poised to Narrow in 2024 | The gap in profit growth for those shares versus the rest is forecast to shrink

As Louis Navellier of Navellier & Associates sees it, six of the seven stocks are looking good heading into 2024. Only Apple will be sitting on the sidelines absent a cutting-edge product — or technology — to boost its bottom-line, he wrote in a report.

3. Presidential Vote

An election year with a sitting president running is historically a bullish scenario for US stocks. Since 1949, the S&P 500 is averaging a gain of nearly 13% in those election years, per the Stock Trader’s Almanac. When there’s an open field without an incumbent president, the index averages a 1.5% loss for the year.

Source: The Stock Trader’s Almanac

Part of the reason for equity gains is incumbents typically implement new policies or push for lower taxes to boost the economy and sentiment ahead of the vote.

4. Asia Risk: BoJ, China and India Elections

Japanese Stocks at 30-Year Highs With Weak Yen, BOJ Policy

While the Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed to a three-decade high in 2023 on the back of the Bank of Japan’s ultra-loose policy and a weak yen, Japanese shares face a hurdle in early 2024. The central bank is maintaining the world’s last negative rate, but two-thirds of economists  forecast it will deliver its first rate hike since 2007 by April.

Meanwhile, after another disappointing year for China bulls, investors will watch meetings of the National People’s Congress and the third plenum for Beijing’s growth target in 2024 and clues on fiscal stimulus.

India is a big bullish bright spot, as the nation bags high-profile manufacturing contracts, ramps up infrastructure spending and emerges as an alternative to China.

5. ECB, BOE Policy

With the Stoxx Europe 600 Index near its highest level in two years, cyclical shares that are heavily exposed to Asia may hold the key to further gains given China’s potential fiscal boost.

While a soft economy will likely weigh on European earnings, analysts’ consensus estimates are for roughly 4% profit growth in 2024, mostly relying on rising margins, BI data show.

Europe's 2024 Profit Outlook Trails Emerging Markets, US |

Bond markets expect the European Central Bank to cut rates by April, which could provide an additional boost to the region’s shares.

The Bank of England is expected to trail both the Fed and ECB in easing since the UK has one of the highest inflation rates among Group of Seven nations.

 

Copyright 2023 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.