S&P 500 Forecast 2021

If you’d invested money in S&P 500 stocks last spring, you would have almost doubled your ROI. S&P is regarded as the “real stock market” by many investors. It hit its all time high last week, and will likely see similar growth next week and through 2021.

For newbie self-directed investors, enjoy the description of the index and introduction to its stocks below. You’re looking for the best performing S&P 500 stocks to invest in and you’ll find them here too. In fact, you’ll discover that certain stocks on the S&P 600 are actually outperformers.

Some forecast modellers actually have the S&P 500 index potentially hitting 6,000. One expert whom most people ridiculed two years ago said it would hit the unrealistic price of 3500. Well it’s passed 4,162 in after hours futures trading tonight. Bears and short sellers are suffering so far in 2021.

The S&P 500 forecast mirrors the Dow Jones forecast. If you’re looking for a faster upside, check out the S&P 600 stocks below, and review the Russell 2000 forecast of small caps which might be more rewarding. If you’re concerned about a bubble and stock market crash ahead, then read up on hedging strategy.

This old forecast was pretty accurate: “Goldman is expecting the S&P 500 to end the year at 4,300, implying a 13% increase from current levels and a new all-time high. The median S&P 500 forecast from a Bloomberg survey is 4,100 versus the index’s current level of 3,850” — from Bloomberg Report.

Wages always lag inflation so that’s a positive for business input costs. The big knock is that companies get wasteful and that consumption slows over time. And of course, inflation is followed by crisis, which is followed by higher interest rates and government meddling, and then finally a stock market crash. Not a good chain of events overall for investors, unless you have lots of funds are hoping for a big crash or correction and “buy the dip.”

2021 is going to be good for the S&P 500. When the vaccines take full effect, the economy will grow. GDP estimates are above 7%. There is huge pent up demand and most Americans have money to spend.

Currently, many investors have been ploughing money into Cryptocurrency and Tesla/EVS. Those are decidedly risky and volatile.

S&P 500 Dow Jones Russell Nasdaq Comparison last 6 months. Screenshot Courtesy of Yahoo Finance.

The S&P, DOW have shown moderate volatility and similar returns while the NASDAQ has suffered much more ups and downs, which might appeal to day stock traders. Investors are uncertain right now and are reviewing forecasts and predictions for today, next week, next month and 6 months.

S&P Sector Performance Last Year

Here’s TradingView’s latest quote on the S&P sectors. IT (and the NASDAQ), Consumer discretionaries, and consumer staples are down again this week, presumably because of weak stimulus news and rising Covid 19 variant infections in many states.

S&P sectors today. Screenshot courtesy of TradingView.

Top Performing S&P Stocks

Data courtesy of Barchart.com. If the S&P 500 sectors are lagging, it doesn’t mean there aren’t star stocks to buy. Yes, the banks are reporting excellent earnings and the stock markets are rising so firms such as Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, Bank of New York Mellon,

Stock Symbol	Name	Stock Price	price Rise	%Chg in Price	Trading High	Trading Low
ALB	Albemarle Corp	157.5	5.47	0.036	159.76	154.79
MS	Morgan Stanley	80.03	1.44	0.0183	80.37	78.11
SCHW	The Charles Schwab Corp	65.88	1.14	0.0176	66.62	64.92
BK	Bank of New York Mellon Corporation	46.81	0.74	0.0161	46.93	46.13
APA	Apa Corp	18.07	0.27	0.0155	18.39	17.78
JKHY	Jack Henry & Associates	161.15	2.31	0.0145	161.47	158.68
NFLX	Netflix Inc	554.44	7.9	0.0145	556.44	545.53
PSA	Public Storage	270.38	3.58	0.0134	270.52	265.59
IR	Ingersoll Rand Inc	50.91	0.67	0.0133	50.96	50.01
ILMN	Illumina Inc	404.18	5.18	0.013	405.25	393.35
EQIX	Equinix Inc	717.29	9.15	0.0129	719.63	706.05
DLR	Digital Realty Trust	147.76	1.8	0.0123	147.98	145.4
IRM	Iron Mountain Inc	38.48	0.44	0.0116	38.59	37.93
VNO	Vornado Realty Trust	45.47	0.51	0.0113	45.61	44.44
EOG	Eog Resources	71.29	0.78	0.0111	72.1	70.01
TSCO	Tractor Supply Company	183.08	2	0.011	184.49	180.12
ALXN	Alexion Pharm Inc	165.47	1.79	0.0109	165.95	164.51
ANTM	Anthem Inc	379.66	4.04	0.0108	379.84	374.46
HUM	Humana Inc	439.92	4.64	0.0107	441.53	434.21
PKI	Perkinelmer	134.59	1.43	0.0107	135.17	132.25
WRB	W.R. Berkley Corp	80.76	0.85	0.0106	80.77	79.55
PBCT	People’s United Finl	18.04	0.18	0.0101	18.12	17.75
TAP	Molson Coors Brewing Company	54.01	0.54	0.0101	54.15	52.92
WU	Western Union Company	26.15	0.26	0.01	26.24	25.88
EXPE	Expedia Group Inc	175.62	1.71	0.0098	177.88	172.06
CMG	Chipotle Mexican Grill	1,550.01	14.97	0.0098	1,560.83	1,523.35
MRO	Marathon Oil Corp	10.63	0.1	0.0095	10.77	10.42
WST	West Pharmaceutical Services	316.79	2.96	0.0094	317.19	311.77
PFE	Pfizer Inc	38.93	0.36	0.0093	38.96	38.33
EXR	Extra Space Storage Inc	143.93	1.32	0.0093	144.12	141.93
HII	Huntington Ingalls Industries	210	1.94	0.0093	210.74	205.84
WBA	Walgreens Boots Alliance	53.79	0.49	0.0092	53.9	52.81
SLB	Schlumberger N.V.	26.53	0.24	0.0091	26.77	26.25
TXT	Textron Inc	59.06	0.52	0.0089	60	58.45
KR	Kroger Company	37.43	0.32	0.0086	37.68	36.92
NLOK	Nortonlifelock Inc	21.8	0.18	0.0083	21.81	21.49
PPG	PPG Industries	168.78	1.37	0.0082	169.94	165.9
CAG	Conagra Brands Inc	37.85	0.3	0.008	37.92	37.41
DRE	Duke Realty Corp	44.83	0.35	0.0079	44.85	44.23
DPZ	Domino’s Pizza Inc	397.96	3.13	0.0079	399.39	393.58

Safe Investing in the S&P 100

Companies listed in the S&P 100 such as Pfizer, Walgreens, Coca Cola, Apple, Pepsi, Chevron and GE look pretty good for 2021. Check them out further on Barchart.com and for more on the S&P 100 forecast.

Introducing the S&P 600

This chart below reveals the S&P 600 has performed the best. Find out which S&P 600 stocks have been pushing its price performance in the last 6 months.

Here are the best performers of the S&P 600 stocks. Gamestop was rumored to be issuing new stock, but you may want to pass on that one. Find out more on Barchart.com or Yahoo Finance. Outdoor equipment, energy, materials, beverages seem to be strong of late (heading into the summer recovery?).

Best S&P 600 Stocks. Screenshot courtesy of Barchart.com

With the economy revving up soon, Trillion dollar stimulus money pouring into the economy, we could see the S&P hit

“The sentiment is risk-on with more investors showing interest towards cyclical stocks while a positive vaccination drive and better macro numbers are hinting towards a better growth environment,” said Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at Globalt in Atlanta. from Reuters news release today.

What is the S&P 500?

What is the S&P index? The S&P 500 or Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, is a weighted index of the 500 largest U.S. publicly traded companies (large-cap U.S. equities). The index has a 69.0% trailing 1-year total return. It’s a measure of how well the top US corporation s are doing. It can be contrasted with the Russell Index which is a measure of small to medium-sized companies. The Russell Index has actually performed well in 2020, and warrants a good look for investing. Check the Dow forecast and the NASDAQ Forecast too.

Stocks in the S&P 500 include Google Alphabet, Amazon, American Airlines, Facebook, Apple, McDonalds, NASDAQ, Nike, Delta Airlines, Sherwin Williams, Netflix and other high valuation companies. Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google — the FAANG stocks — now make up more than 11% of the S&P 500 index.

The S&P delisted Facebook as an ethical company, and we wonder if Google is next, having been convicted in Europe of anti-trust violations, and preparing to defend a US FTC investigation.

Best Consumer Discretionary Stocks

Best S&P Sectors This Year