U.S. stocks were higher on Tuesday morning following a number of positive earnings reports. On the housing front, new home sales for March rose to a seasonally adjusted rate of 693,000, above expectations for 669,000. Spotify Technology (SPOT) is up 14% after reporting above-consensus results and gross margin improvement. The Dow was up 0.5%, the S&P 500 rose 0.96% and the Nasdaq gained 1.4%. Crude oil is trading above $82 per barrel and gold fell $11 to $2334 per ounce.

Argus has published its latest Portfolio Selector, which features its popular Focus List. Each month, Director of Research Jim Kelleher, CFA, surveys the team of Argus Research industry analysts for their timeliest recommendations out of the company's fundamental universe of approximately 500 stocks. The Focus List typically includes 30 stocks: turnover is high, as Jim typically adds three or four new stocks per month. Below are the latest additions, all of which are rated BUY at Argus.

The Portfolio Selector features the Argus Focus List, a group of 30 "best idea" stocks generated and regularly updated by Argus' analysts and investment policy committee. It also includes the director of research’s monthly investment strategy column, stock recommendations and sector picks, economic forecasts, and an asset allocation model. This month, the Focus List additions are Laboratory Corp. Of America Hl (LH); Micron Technology Inc. (MU); Oracle Corp. (ORCL); Invesco Ltd (IVZ) and the Focus List deletions are Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD); American Express Co. (AXP); Crowdstrike Holdings Inc (CRWD); Unitedhealth Group Inc (UNH).

In a new performance twist, the top growth-focused sectors are barely beating the market through 1Q24 rather than trouncing it as they did a year earlier. For 1Q24, the best sector performance in the S&P 500 came from Communication Services, up 12%; this sector was also a top performer in 1Q23. But the best performer in 1Q23, Technology, was in fourth place in 1Q24. Tied for second place in 1Q24 were Financial Services and Energy, both up 12%. Technology appreciated 10% in the quarter, which put it just behind the market's 10.2% capital-appreciation gain. Industrial was just behind Technology and the market with a 9.9% gain in 1Q24. Next up was Healthcare, logging 8% appreciation as the medical profession and healthcare industry continue their prolonged transition out of the post-pandemic phase. Three sectors - Consumer Staples, Materials, and Utilities - delivered 5%-7% capital appreciation in 1Q24. Utilities is a favored sector in a declining rate environment, and investors appear to be buying ahead of the anticipated shift to accommodative Fed policy from the current restrictive stance. Consumer Discretionary, one of the better performers in 2023, was eleventh among 11 sectors in 1Q24. The Wall Street narrative is that inflation is in retreat, the economy is strong, and people are employed. But the average consumer is weary and wallet-constrained after two years of inflation. High interest rates are a further impediment to big consumer-durable purchases such as homes and cars, particularly for the middle class and below. This disconnect between the top of the economy and the middle and bottom is likely to feature in the November elections.

Small- and mid-cap stocks (SMID) have underperformed large-caps over the past 12 months, but may be in a better position to generate market-beating returns going forward. SMID companies tend to focus on domestic markets, so their businesses could be less disrupted by the fallout from global events. As well, the prices of SMID stocks generally are lower than the prices of large-caps. As well, there are long stretches in the record books when SMID stocks have outperformed large-caps. That said, SMID stocks can be risky. The standard deviation for monthly returns was 5.7% for SMID stocks over a 2003-2021 test period, versus 4.3% for large-caps. Still, despite the risks, diversified investors look to have exposure to small- and mid-caps based on the long-term performance record.

The stock market blasted off late last week, propelling the S&P 500 to an all-time high (ATH). It has been a long recovery (over two years) for the index, as its last ATH was on January 3, 2022. The Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 100 beat the '500' to new highs, while the S&P 400 is close. The Nasdaq and the NYSE still have work to do to puncture their ATHs from late 2021 and early 2022. The Russell 2000 and S&P 600 are nowhere near all-time highs.

The S&P 500 (SPX) bounced off its 50-week average on October 23 in the morning and mounted a nice rally. A prominent hedge-fund manager was said to have unwound his short bond position, so yields fell, aiding stocks until about 1:00 pm. But, once again, the sellers reemerged, erasing all of the SPX gains. That was the second straight close below the 200-day average for the index, but is still not a breakdown as the drop below is by less than 1%. The index did hold the 4,200 area, so chart support remains intact, albeit barely.

Small- and mid-cap stocks (SMID) have underperformed large-caps over the past 12 months, but may be in a better position to generate market-beating returns going forward. SMID companies tend to focus on domestic markets, so their businesses could be less disrupted by the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, high European inflation or other geopolitical developments. As well, the prices of SMID stocks generally are lower than the prices of large-caps. SMID stocks can be risky, but diversified investors look to have exposure to small- and mid-caps based on the long-term performance record. We estimate that 12%-15% of the U.S. stock market's capitalization is comprised of SMID stocks. For our purposes, we use a threshold of $20 billion to define a SMID stock.

Stocks edged higher on Tuesday morning as investors awaited earnings from Microsoft and Alphabet after the close. Consumer confidence data was stronger than expected. The Conference Board said that its consumer confidence index rose to 117.0 in July, up from 110.1 in June and above the Bloomberg consensus forecast of 112.0. The reading was the highest in two years. The Dow was flat, the S&P rose 0.1%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.3%. Crude oil traded near $79 per barrel, while gold fell slightly to $1961 per ounce.

This was one of our 10 Investment Themes for 2023 and remains relevant, as the S&P 500 is up 13% year-to-date. The long-term trend in the U.S. stock market has been higher; since 1980, stocks have turned in a positive performance almost 80% of the time. The average annual gain has been 13%. That was not so in 2022. Yes, the S&P 500 set an all-time record. But it peaked on January 3 and the rest of the year was downhill. The stock market entered a bear market in June 2022. Bond returns weren't much better, as spiking inflation pushed long-term interest rates higher and the Fed raised short-term rates to try to bring inflation down. The turmoil posed a challenge for Wall Street firms, as investment returns were dismal, the IPO market dried up, and M&A activity disappeared. By year-end, Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were announcing layoffs. We are more optimistic for the financial markets in 2023. Equity valuations are lower in the wake of the selloff in 2022. There is pent-up demand for IPOs and M&A once the environment improves. Finally, consensus expectations call for weak earnings and investment returns in 2023, setting markets up for a positive surprise. As the outlook improves, we think that investor demand will pick up for investment banks, exchange operators, and money-management firms. We recently raised our sector rating on Financial Services to Over-Weight. Stocks in our coverage universe that we believe are positioned to benefit include the following.

As of this writing, a massive week for tech stocks and the overall market is underway, with earnings reports from GOOGL, MSFT, META, AMZN, TXN, KLAC, NOW, SPOT, KO, PEP, MCD, WHR, UPS, MRK, CAT, CMG, BA,V, MA, FSLR, XOM, and GE. It likely will be the largest market-cap week of the EPS season.

Small- and mid-cap stocks (SMID) have underperformed large-caps over the past 12 months, but may be in a better position to generate market-beating returns going forward. SMID companies tend to focus on domestic markets, so their businesses could be less disrupted by the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, high European inflation or other geopolitical developments. As well, the prices of SMID stocks generally are lower than the prices of large-caps. SMID stocks can be risky, but diversified investors look to have exposure to small- and mid-caps based on the long-term performance record. We estimate that 12%-15% of the U.S. stock market's capitalization is comprised of SMID stocks. For our purposes, we use a threshold of $15 billion to define a SMID stock.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Vickers Stock Research, a subsidiary of The Argus Research Group, tracks and analyzes insider trading and institutional stock ownership trends. Form 13-Fs, which institutions must file to report their holdings, are due 45 days after the end of calendar quarters, and have now come in for 4Q22. We like to review the 13Fs of the major activist investors, including Carl Icahn, Trian Fund Management, Jana Partners, and ValueAct Holdings, among others, in order to determine their core holdings and new purchases. Activist investing has evolved in recent years and is now less about generating a short-term return on an underpriced stock and more about achieving long-term returns through an active management/investor partnership. Activists have made progress in the past quarter with high-profile investments into blue-chip companies such as Walt Disney and Salesforce. Based on data from Vickers, here are some recent new purchases and key holdings of activist investors, as well as other high-profile money managers such as Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway and Ken Griffin of Citadel Advisors LLC.

Stocks fluctuated on Tuesday morning following more earnings reports from major companies. Verizon reported strong subscriber growth in 4Q, but offered disappointing 2023 guidance, while Johnson & Johnson posted mixed results and projected above-consensus earnings in 2023. GE posted better-than-expected 4Q earnings, but offered below-consensus guidance. The Dow was flat, and the S&P and the Nasdaq both fell 0.1%. Crude oil fell nearly 2% to $80 per barrel, while gold rose $3 to $1932 per ounce.

Value over growth, mid-caps over large-caps, defensive sectors over high-beta sectors: those were themes in 2022. Our technical bet is that these issues roll over into 2023 as it's best not to fight trends and to let price and relative strength be your guide.

The long-term trend in the U.S. stock market has been higher. Since 1980, stocks have turned in positive performances almost 80% of the time. The average annual gain has been 13%. That was not the case in 2022. Sure, the S&P 500 set an all-time record. But it peaked on January 3, and the rest of the year was downhill. The stock market technically entered a bear market in June. Bond returns weren't much better, as spiking inflation pushed long-term interest rates higher and the Federal Reserve raised short-term rates to try to bring inflation under control. The turmoil in the marketplace posed a challenge for Wall Street firms, as investment returns were dismal, the IPO market dried up, and M&A activity disappeared. By year-end, Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were announcing layoffs. Looking ahead, we are more optimistic for stocks in 2023. For one thing, equity valuations are lower in the wake of the sharp sell-off in 2022. For another, there is pent-up demand for IPOs and M&A, once the environment improves. Finally, consensus expectations call for weak 2023 earnings and investment returns, setting the markets up for a positive surprise. As the outlook for financial firms improves, we think investor demand will pick-up for investment banks, exchanges, and money management firms. Stocks in our Universe of Coverage that are in position to benefit include the following.

As the end of 2022 draws near, many market participants are happy to see that the painful year is almost over. From market strategists, portfolio managers, stock analysts, pension funds, hedge funds, market technicians, bond analysts, individual investors, and perma-bulls, it seemed like a period where everything went against both the stock and bond markets. Certainly, and unfortunately, much of the pain was self-inflicted -- as too much liquidity led to out-of-control inflation and then the Federal Reserve was far behind the curve (and has been playing catch up for most of the year).

Stocks finished mixed on Thursday as investors weighed earnings reports from a range of major companies, including Caterpillar, Merck, and McDonald's, along with new GDP and employment data. The Commerce Department said that the U.S. economy expanded at a 2.6% rate in the third quarter, a reversal after two quarters of declines, helped by stronger-than-expected net exports. On the employment front, first-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose by 3,000 to 217,000 for the week ended October 22, but were below the Reuters consensus estimate of 223,000. Continuing claims rose to 1.438 million, up from 1.383 million a week earlier and above the consensus forecast. The Dow rose 0.61%, the S&P fell 0.61%, and the Nasdaq fell 1.63%. Crude oil rose 1% to $89 per barrel, while gold fell $3 to $1666 per ounce.

Small- and mid-cap stocks (SMID stocks) have underperformed large-caps over the past 12 months, but still may be in a better position to generate market-beating returns going forward. For one thing, SMID companies tend to focus on domestic markets, so their businesses could be less disrupted by the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As well, the prices of SMID stocks generally are lower than the prices of large-caps. SMID stocks can be risky -- and large-caps outperformed SMID stocks in 11 of the 19 years in our test period. Still, despite the risks, diversified investors look to have exposure to small- and mid-caps based on the long-term performance record. We estimate that 12%-15% of the U.S. stock market's capitalization is comprised of SMID stocks. For our purposes, we use a threshold of $20 billion to define a SMID stock.

Second-Quarter Earnings Season: First Look

Vickers Stock Research, a subsidiary of Argus Research Group, tracks and analyzes insider trading and institutional ownership trends. Form 13-Fs are due 45 days after the end of calendar quarters, and have now come in from 1Q22. We like to review the 13Fs of the major activist investors, including Carl Icahn, Trian Fund Management, Jana Partners, and ValueAct Holdings, among others. Activist investing has evolved in recent years and is now less about generating a short-term return on an underpriced stock and more about achieving long-term returns through an active management/investor partnership. Here are some recent new purchases and key holdings of activist investors, according to the data from Vickers.

Simply put, the trading week ended Friday, April 22, was just ugly, with a two-day S&P 500 collapse of 4.2% (the largest two-day slide since September 2020). The Nasdaq and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) gave up 4.6%.

Small- and mid-cap stocks (SMID stocks) have underperformed large-caps over the past 12 months, but still may be in a better position to generate market-beating returns going forward. SMID companies tend to focus on domestic markets, so their businesses could be less disrupted by the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As well, the prices of SMID stocks generally are lower than the prices of large-caps. That said, SMID stocks can be risky and large-caps outperformed SMID stocks in 11 of the 19 years in our test period. Still, despite the risks, diversified investors look to have exposure to small- and mid-caps based on the long-term performance record. We estimate that 12%-15% of the U.S. stock market's capitalization is comprised of SMID stocks. For our purposes, we use a threshold of $20 billion to define a SMID stock.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Vickers Stock Research, a subsidiary of Argus Research Group, tracks and analyzes insider-trading and institutional-ownership trends. Form 13-Fs are due 45 days after the end of calendar quarters, and have now come in from 4Q21. We review the 13Fs of the major activist investors, including Carl Icahn, Trian Fund Management, Jana Partners, and ValueAct Holdings, among others. Activist investing has evolved in recent years and is now less about generating a short-term return on an underpriced stock and more about achieving long-term returns through an active management/investor partnership. Here are some recent new purchases and key holdings of Activist investors, according to Vickers.

Stocks rose strongly on Friday morning, led by the Technology and Communication Services sectors, after recovering from sharp early losses. But there were more signs of accelerating inflation. The Commerce Department said that its personal consumption expenditures index rose 5.8% from the prior year in December, up from 5.7% growth in November and in line with the Bloomberg consensus forecast. The Dow rose 0.5%, the S&P 1.2%, and the Nasdaq 2.0%. Crude oil rose more than 1% to $88 per barrel, while gold traded near $1786 per ounce.

Stocks rose on Thursday morning, despite a weaker-than-expected GDP report, as investors continued to focus on strong third-quarter earnings. The Commerce Department said that U.S. GDP rose at a 2.0% annualized rate in 3Q, the weakest reading since 2Q20 and below the Reuters consensus forecast of 2.7% growth. The Dow rose 0.5%, the S&P 0.8%, and the Nasdaq 1.2%. Crude oil fell to $82 per barrel, while gold traded near $1800 per ounce.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

The July 19 trading week began with somber discussions of an overdue correction, and stocks wobbled - but investors bought the dip and shares raced to new all-time highs. Although stocks suffered a drubbing on Monday of that week, with the benchmark S&P 500 down 1.6% for the session, they clawed back on Tuesday through Thursday and then staged a big-finish Friday.

The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

With April winding down, you can count on someone, somewhere saying, 'sell in May and go away.' That pronouncement is mainly popular because it rhymes. While it is true that summer is typically a period of relative underperformance, market timing rarely works. And sometimes summer is a good time for stock performance.

Stocks rallied on Thursday morning, recovering from Wednesday's selloff, amid lower-than-expected jobless claims. The Labor Department reported that first-time claims for state unemployment benefits fell to 847,000 for the week ended January 23, down from a revised 914,000 a week earlier and below the Bloomberg consensus forecast of 875,000. The Dow rose 1.8%, the S&P 1.6%, and the Nasdaq 0.9%. Crude oil rose to $53 per barrel, while gold traded near $1866 per ounce.