With the S&P 500 hitting an all time high last week capping off a stellar six month period for the index, it does leave many wondering will the bull run continue.

In 2023, 62% of the S&P 500’s 26.29% total return was produced by what are referred to as “The Magnificent Seven” stocks – Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Apple, Meta (Facebook), Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla. That is a very small band of stocks doing a gargantuan amount of heavy lifting. Whilst the largest of these stocks have a higher market cap than the GDP of the vast majority of countries, they still continue to add significant chunks of value to their share price. Most Western governments would give up most of their castles and national parks to have even a tenth of the levels of growth these companies can have in a year!

With a US election looming and the state of the economy inevitably linked to a Presidents electoral performance, I would think Biden and his team will do everything they can to continue the strong economic performance of 2023 and bring that momentum to November 2024.

My personal view is there will be a continuation of growth in the magnificent seven although not as strong as 2023. Historically, all-time highs follow more all-time highs. The S&P 500 averages a total return of 10.9% over the next year so whilst history can’t predict the future it is certainly a solid indicator.