The hopeful 493

Yesterday the S&P 500 stock index notched its 30th record high close for the year, and is up 14.7% year-to-date. Even with one of its members down nearly 25%, the Bloomberg Magnificent Seven index tracking the performance of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Tesla has risen 36.7% this year compared to the S&P 500 excluding those firms up 7.6%. This continued strength of a select few firms has been driven by earnings results. During the first quarter of 2024, the collective earnings of S&P 500 rose 7.9% year-on-year. However, excluding the Magnificent Seven, the remaining firms in the S&P 500 index posted zero growth in the quarter. Still, based on analyst earnings forecasts, the earnings growth for these hopeful 493 firms is expected to accelerate over the next four quarters, closing the gap with the Magnificent Seven.

Source: Bloomberg, June 2024