The second half setup for stocks

• Dow and Russell 2000 achieved their best first halves in years, with the S&P 500 historically showing positive performance in July.
• S&P 500 earnings growth expectations for Q2 have significantly risen from 15.2% on January 1st to a current 24.3%.
• Panelists debate market broadening, with some highlighting strong performance in financials and small/mid-caps, while others emphasize the continued dominance of AI-related plays.
• Specific tech sub-sectors like software (IGV) and memory (Micron, DRAM) are identified as having built a base and are expected to continue their positive momentum.

The Investment Committee debates the market's second-half outlook, with panelists generally bullish on continued gains. Discussions revolve around broadening market participation beyond mega-cap tech, strong earnings growth expectations, and the potential for specific tech sub-sectors like software and memory to lead the market.