For Immediate Releases
Chicago, IL – May 13, 2026 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks and ETFs featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include Vanguard S&P 500 ETF VOO, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV, State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF SPYM, Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF RSP, ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF EQL and Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF EQWL.
Here are highlights from Wednesday’s Analyst Blog:
AI and Earnings Lift S&P 500 Outlook: ETFs for Long-Term Growth
Since the onset of the Middle East conflict, volatility has been a persistent theme across global markets, keeping equities choppy and oil prices under pressure. President Donald Trump’s recent remarks describing the agreement as being on “massive life support” after rejecting Tehran’s latest peace proposal further underscore the uncertainty and ambiguity surrounding the ceasefire deal.
However, with each passing day, investors appear increasingly willing to shrug off geopolitical volatility. The market is becoming less reactive to headlines around the peace deal uncertainty. The S&P 500 has gained 1.63% over the past five trading sessions and 8.39% over the past month. The broad market index has added about 7.77% year to date, pulling its returns over the past year to 30.52%.
With several Wall Street brokerages projecting further upside for the S&P 500 by year-end, long-term investors may benefit more from staying invested and focusing on broader market trends rather than reacting to short-term volatility.
Wall Street Turning Bullish on the S&P 500
HSBC recently lifted its year-end target for the broad market index to 7,650 from 7,500, pointing to continued resilience in corporate earnings growth, as quoted on Reuters. Enthusiasm surrounding AI-driven growth and resilient earnings forecasts has pushed U.S. equities to fresh all-time highs in recent weeks.
Additionally, strategists projected an even more bullish scenario for the broad market index, forecasting a potential move toward the 8,000 mark if elevated technology valuations are accompanied by a recovery in underperforming sectors, broader AI-driven profit growth and a supportive macroeconomic backdrop, as quoted on the above-mentioned article.
Per another Reuters article, RBC Capital Markets also projected an optimistic trajectory for the benchmark index, raising its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 7,900 from 7,750 on expectations of strong earnings growth and sustained momentum in AI-related sectors. As per the article, RBC’s upbeat outlook follows similar target hikes from Wall Street peers, including J.P. Morgan and Barclays, which recently cited easing geopolitical tensions and improving earnings trends.
What Should Be the Strategy to Play the Long Game?
With the ceasefire agreement surrounding the Iran conflict still uncertain and the aftermath of the conflict creating unfavorable macroeconomic conditions, markets are likely to remain volatile in the near term. In such an environment, maintaining a long-term investment horizon becomes crucial for preserving wealth, building resilience and positioning portfolios for sustainable long-term growth.
Buy-and-hold is a classic investment strategy that offers a passive approach, ideal for investors seeking sustainable, long-term returns. By staying invested through both bull and bear markets, buy-and-hold investors allow their portfolios and investments to grow and compound over time, without being swayed by short-term market fluctuations.
This strategy is particularly effective for building wealth and managing risk, appealing to long-term investors who prefer a hands-off approach and are less concerned with short-term market volatility. For new investors, buy-and-hold can be especially prudent, helping reduce exposure to market swings while fostering disciplined investing habits.
A key benefit of buy-and-hold is its ability to minimize the influence of investor emotions on investment decisions. By removing impulsive behavior, such as panic selling during downturns or overbuying in rallies, investors can avoid actions that could harm their portfolios. This makes buy-and-hold a relevant and resilient strategy, especially in today’s uncertain economic environment.
Investors who stay invested throughout economic cycles tend to outperform those who attempt to time their market entries and exits, reinforcing the principle of "time in the market, not timing the market."
Long-Term ETF Picks for Resilient Portfolios
Using ETFs to implement a buy-and-hold, long-term investment strategy offers additional benefits such as instant diversification and tax efficiency. Below, we have highlighted a few ETFs that investors may consider for gaining long-term market exposure while navigating evolving market conditions.
S&P 500 ETFs
Over the long term, well-capitalized, stable large-cap funds are a smart, balanced choice for investors seeking to build a more balanced and diversified portfolio. They should consider funds that track major indexes, such as the S&P 500 or broad market funds that cover nearly the entire U.S. market. Funds tracking the broad market index could offer attractive opportunities.
Investors can consider Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF.
Equal-Weighted ETFs
For investors seeking exposure to the bullish economic outlook with a more balanced portfolio and comparatively lower risk profile, boosting allocations to equal-weighted index funds tracking the broad market may be a suitable approach.
These funds offer sector-level diversification by assigning equal weight to each constituent stock, regardless of market capitalization, reducing concentration risk. This makes them a relevant choice for investors seeking diversified exposure across sectors. Such investments also provide investors with essential diversification and help reduce concentration risk in specific sectors.
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF and Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF are some good options.
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Note: Sheraz Mian heads the Zacks Equity Research department and is a well-regarded expert of aggregate earnings. He is frequently quoted in the print and electronic media and publishes the weekly Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview reports. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here>>>
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY): ETF Research Reports
Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF Shares (VOO): ETF Research Reports
Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP): ETF Research Reports
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV): ETF Research Reports
Invesco S&P 100 Equal Weight ETF (EQWL): ETF Research Reports
ALPS Equal Sector Weight ETF (EQL): ETF Research Reports
State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM): ETF Research Reports
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).