“We’re going to continue seeing equity markets able to attract more investors because the earnings are supporting them,” Chris Gaffney, president of EverBank World Markets, told the Wall Street Journal.
The strong earnings is also attributed to the outperformance in the tech-heavy, growth-oriented companies of the Nasdaq Composite. According to FactSet analysts, tech companies in the S&P 500 are on track to post 14% growth in earnings over the first quarter year-over-year, compared to the 10% growth rate for the broader S&P 500 index.
“Tech is always going to be the group that pulls in investors chasing growth,” Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist and senior portfolio manager at Boston Private Wealth, told the Wall Street Journal.
The markets also continued their relief rally after recent opinion polls pointed to pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron, who won the first round of the French presidential elections, with a lead over far-right, anti-EU Marine Le Pen in the May 7 run-off.
Further bolstering the risk-on sentiment, President Donald Trump ordered the White House to draft a tax plan to slash the corporate tax rate to 15%.
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