S&P 500 Hits 2023 High

“Sentimentality about an investment leads to lack of discipline.” ~ Sam Zell (September 28, 1941 – May 18, 2023)

“There were a lot of running backs as good as me. The real difference was that I could focus. I never laid back and relied on natural ability. ~ Jim Brown (February 7 1936 – May 18, 2023)

Good evening:

The S&P 500 this week hit a high for 2023, continuing the bull market that we believe began in October. Tom Lee, our Head of Research, observes that the market has exited the “sell the rip” regime in favor of “buying the dip.” This is shown by our Chart of the Week:

The bullish switch, with plenty of cash still on the sidelines, drove the benchmark index past 4,200 on Friday morning, its highest level since August even as investors worry about the upcoming debt ceiling deadline. 

Lee believes mega-cap tech stocks have leverage to the growing artificial intelligence opportunity. Plus, the S&P 500 posts a reasonable valuation when you exclude big tech stocks and Granny Shots Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, which have added roughly $2.8 trillion in market value YTD, driving a majority of the S&P 500’s roughly $3.2 trillion increase in market cap.