Markets just keep rallying this year, with the S & P 500 up nearly 22% year-to-date and the Nasdaq jumping around 21%. In global stocks, the MSCI World index is around 16% higher. Many on Wall Street expect the trend to continue. Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley and others all see the S & P 500 around 6,000 by the end of the year, up from around 5,730 on Tuesday. Mary Ann Bartels, chief investment strategist at Sanctuary Wealth, said that while stocks are grappling with various worries, “liquidity is key and there is plenty of it now that the Fed has started to cut interest rates , and that means that markets can continue to grind higher.” “October, which is historically a seasonally choppy and spooky month for markets, may bring some noticeable stock market turbulence, but the overall trend is clear: stocks on the rise and yields on the decline,” she wrote in an Oct. 2 note, adding that consumer spending remains strong. Meanwhile, recent data indicates that the U.S. Federal Reserve could be close to pulling off the much-discussed economic soft landing . However, Wells Fargo in a Sept. 30 note warned: “The Fed’s more aggressive start to its easing cycle also leaves financial markets exposed to increased volatility by encouraging a rotation into risk assets and leveraging, anticipating an early growth recovery vulnerable to rising inflation and higher interest rates.” With markets already running high, CNBC Pro screened for global stocks that have outperformed the MSCI World index, but still look cheap based on their forward price-to-earnings ratios. Here is the criteria we used: Forward P/E at a discount of 10% or more to the average forward P/E over the past five years. Returns of more than 16% so far this year, beating the MSCI World index. At least half of analysts covering the stock give it a buy rating. Consensus price targets give the stock upside of at least 15%. These stocks turned up.
