It’s been a big month for U.S. stocks. The S&P 500 breached 3,000 for the first time, the Nasdaq is closing in on 8,000, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed the 27,000 mark this month.
The fear that had increased over the last few days as investors awaited two days of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s “Humphrey Hawkins” testimony to Congress that commenced Wednesday abated rapidly, with the markets jumping to fresh highs as Powell supported the argument for easing monetary policy.
In written testimony to the House Financial Services Committee, Powell claimed that business investments throughout the U.S. have languished “notably” recently as uncertainties over the economic outlook persist.
“Crosscurrents have reemerged,” Powell said. “Many FOMC participants saw that the case for a somewhat more accommodative monetary policy had strengthened. Since then, based on incoming data and other developments, it appears that uncertainties around trade tensions and concerns about the strength of the global economy continue to weigh on the U.S. economic outlook.”
But all this talk of uncertainty has only stoked the market higher, and now analysts are looking at what sectors will lead the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its next big milestone: 28,000.
When the U.S. and China agreed to restart trade talks last month, the two countries agreed not to impose additional tariffs on their goods as negotiations resume. President Donald Trump also claimed China agreed to buy more U.S. agricultural products.
Agricultural ETFs and ETNs like the PowerShares Agricultural ETF (DBA), iPath Grains Total Return ETN (JJG), and the iPath Agriculture Sub-Index ETN (JJA) all become good bets given the President is correct.
Other stocks analysts anticipate will contribute to the Dow’s run to 28,000 are energy giant Exxon Mobil and Chevron and UnitedHealth Group. Exxon and Chevron are both forecast to rise 10.1% over the next 12 months. UnitedHealth has jumped more than 18% over the past three months, and is forecast to rise another 9.4%, making healthcare and energy sector ETFs a solid place to park investments.
Investors can seek out healthcare ETFs like the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) or the iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF (IYH), which have healthy United Healthcare allocations. Meanwhile, energy zealots can look into the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) or the iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (IEO), which both contain many of the energy heavyweights.
For more investing ideas, visit ETFtrends.com.