This edition features our U.S. housing outlook; smarter hydrogen investing; Swatch's prospects in a pricey luxury market; and notes from Johnson & Johnson, Schwab, and AMD.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Mid Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. The market capitalization range for U.S. mid-caps typically falls between $1 billion and $8 billion and represents 20% of the total capitalization of the U.S. equity market.

Stocks rose on Thursday morning on optimism about the Biden administration's $2 trillion infrastructure plan, despite concerns about higher taxes and clear opposition to the plan from House and Senate Republicans. Manufacturing data was strong. The Institute for Supply Management said that its national factory index rose to 64.7 in March from 60.8 in February. The reading topped the Reuters consensus forecast of 61.3 and was the strongest since December 1983. On the employment front, the Labor Department said that first-time claims for state unemployment benefits rose to 719,000 for the week ended March 27, up from 658,000 a week earlier and above the Bloomberg consensus forecast of 675,000. Continuing claims of 3.794 million also exceeded the consensus forecast, but were down from 3.87 million a week earlier. The Dow rose 0.3%, the S&P 0.8%, and the Nasdaq 1.5%. Crude oil rose slightly to $60 per barrel, while gold traded near $1730 per ounce.