View from the Observation Deck 

1. When the stock market is setting new all-time highs, as it did on 9/5/14 (S&P 500 at 2007.71), investors are naturally going to wonder what catalysts are potentially capable of pushing equity prices higher.
2. We believe that corporate earnings determine the direction of the stock market over time.
3. World events, geopolitics, and corporate cost-cutting, to name just three, are also potential catalysts, in our opinion, but tend to be more short-term in scope.   
4. We believe investors should be looking for estimated top-line revenue growth rates that are positive and accelerating. At this stage of the bull market (5½ years), many corporations have likely exhausted their cost-cutting opportunities. 
5. The latest estimates in the chart are encouraging looking out through 2016, in our opinion.

This chart is for illustrative purposes only and not indicative of any actual investment. There can be no assurance that any of the projections cited will occur. The illustration excludes the effects of taxes and brokerage commissions or other expenses incurred when investing. Investors cannot invest directly in an index. The S&P 500 Index is a capitalization-weighted index comprised of 500 stocks used to measure large-cap U.S. stock market performance, while the 10 major S&P 500 Sector Indices are capitalization-weighted and comprised of S&P 500 constituents representing a specific sector.

To Download a PDF of this post, please click here.