will eat away at profits over timeLooking ahead, Barclays Private Bank’s chief market strategist Julien Lafargue expects stocks to trade in a narrow range over the next six months.
As a result, investors will need to look harder for the next winning bet, according to Lafargue, who points to energy and banks as being attractively valued.The buzz around AI led investors to pour a record amount of money into the technology sector, adding nearly US$5 trillion to the value of companies in the Nasdaq 100 index. Nvidia, whose chips are used in AI applications, led the gains, almost tripling and boosting the company’s market value to more than US$1 trillion.
Alongside broader tech gains, the surge was fuelled by positive newsflow that included General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. making moves to adapt their electric vehicles to Tesla’s Superchargers, and Model 3 sedans becoming eligible for the full U.S. tax credit.Article contentBanks encountered turmoil on both sides of the Atlantic. In Europe, jitters at Credit Suisse turned into full-blown panic as clients yanked cash out of the former icon of Swiss finance.