Where Stock Market Is Headed After Wild First Half: Five Charts

-- A boom in artificial intelligence fueled a blistering first half for the US stock market, and traders expect to see the same — and more — in the remainder of the year.The S&P 500 Index has climbed 14% since the beginning of January, notching its second-best stretch of records to start a year this century, thanks to a resilient economy, improved corporate earnings and torrid demand for companies linked to AI.

The S&P 500’s current bull run has added more than $16 trillion in market value since a closing low of 3,577.03 on Oct. 12, 2022. It now trades within striking distance of 5,500. AI chipmaker Nvidia contributed the most to the S&P 500’s rally in 2024. Even with a recent pullback, it rallied roughly 150% on a total return basis. Runners-up are Constellation Energy Corp., rising nearly 72%, followed by General Electric Co., Eli Lilly and Co., and Micron Technology Inc.In terms of index-point contributions, Nvidia also holds the top spot, adding 218 points. Microsoft added 64 points, while Amazon.com Inc., Meta and Apple Inc. rounded out the top five. Tesla Inc.

An equal-weight version of the S&P, which makes no distinction between the size of the companies, has trailed the version that is weighted by market value by 10 percentage points since the beginning of January. That is the widest underperformance in the first six months of the yCompanies outside of tech may juice the next leg higher for stocks, according to Jim Paulsen, a well-known stock strategist who correctly called the S&P’s double-digit rise last year.

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