The following is an excerpt from Zacks Chief Strategist John Blank’s full Nov Market Strategy report To access the full PDF, click here.

2024 has been an excellent year for stocks.

Want a confirming fact? The S&P500 has been up +19.62% YTD to Nov 1st, 2024.

Yet, what can investors expect from owning stocks, going forward?

• On Oct. 25th, 2024, “Bottoms-up” consensus,12M out, looked for S&P500 6,411
• That consensus was (+10%) above an Oct 30th, 2024 closing price of 5,832

Compared to ‘24 U.S. large-cap returns, have returns turned up for world ETFs?

Consider the 1-year (%) returns from the Top 10 World ETFs, by market capitalization, found on Zacks.com (below). 

The answer is YES!

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Zacks NOV Sector/Industry/Company Telescope

Oct. 31st, 2024 Zacks Industry Rankings are a fresh look, provided by Q3 EPS reports.

Our latest forced industry rankings supplied two Very Attractive sectors: Info Tech and Consumer Discretionary.

Their growth is enabled by more “AI” data/cloud centers for Tech, and a strong stock and jobs market for Discretionary.

Fresh OCT ranks offered up two Attractive sectors: Industrials and Financials.

Zacks Industry Ranks showed three Market Weight sectors: Utilities, Health Care, and Communication Services.

There were also two Unattractive Sectors: Materials and Consumer Staples.

Energy was at the back, at Very Unattractive.

(1) Info Tech rose to a Very Attractive rating from Attractive. Semis, Misc. Tech and Computer Software - Services led.

Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY): Amphenol (APH Quick QuoteAPH - Free Report)

(2) Consumer Discretionary rose to Very Attractive from Market Weight. Leisure Service and Media looked good.

Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY): Target (TGT Quick QuoteTGT - Free Report)

(3) Industrials fell to an Attractive rating from Very Attractive. Industrial Products- Services, Transport – Air, and Business Services looked strong.

Zacks #1 Rank (STRONG BUY): Siemens (SIEGY Quick QuoteSIEGY - Free Report)

(4) Financials stayed Attractive. Finance & Investment Banking & Brokering looked best.

(5) Utilities fell to Market Weight from Very Attractive. Utility -- Water Supply looked best.

(6) Health Care fell to Market Weight from Attractive. Medical Products looked best.

(7) Communications Services fell to Market Weight from Attractive. Utilities-Water Supply was the best.

(8) Materials fell to Unattractive from Market Weight. Containers & Glass and Chemical looked OK.

(9) Consumer Staples rose to Unattractive from Very Unattractive. Food/Drug Retail was the strongest group.

(10) Energy fell to an Very Unattractive rating from Unattractive. Coal looked the best.
 

Conclusion

A well-supported forward look: That is always compelling.

What do we have on that?

• Zacks latest 2025 S&P500 EPS growth rate stood at +14.7% y/y, and
• 2026 S&P500 EPS is running at +13.0% y/y

Hence, fundamental earnings support, for a decent S&P500 returns’ year, is in hand.

Pushed along by this U.S. strength, international stocks can keep moving ahead too.

Enjoy the rest of my NOV market strategy report.

Warm Regards,

John Blank, PhD.
Zacks Chief Equity Strategist and Economist