The technical picture on US stocks supports another attempt at higher levels.
The S&P 500 has had two days of support above a channel resistance line. It will likely increase this week if the market does not experience any shock news.
Retail sales data will be released tomorrow at 8:30 p.m. HKT. The reading was flat last month, and a rise is expected to be 0.2%.
The retail figure is unlikely to alter the current trend significantly, and that is the only high-level release this week.
Despite the ongoing bull market in the United States, many participants are growing wary of the focus on a handful of stocks and see the market as a sitting duck, waiting for bad news.
The so-called Magnificent Seven stocks are increasingly driving the market. In the past month, according to the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (MAGS), those stocks have gained 11%, around three times the 4% gain on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY).
Worse still, the most significant gains are driven by only three stocks: Nvidia, Microsoft and Apple. The S&P 500 continues to post gains while most constituents are flat or red.
That makes buying and holding US stocks risky, but there is still potential for trading and following the current trend. With a lack of data this week, the index will likely continue to be higher if there is no bad news, and investors could look to Apple, which surged after its developer conference.
Investment bank Goldman Sachs strategists raised its year-end target for the S&P 500 index to 5,600 from 5,200 on Friday, noting “milder-than-average negative earnings revisions and a higher fair value P/E multiple.”