By Jeremy J Siegel, Senior Investment Strategy Advisor
The final two months of 2016 have delivered plenty of excitement for investors. First, there was Donald Trump's surprising victory in the November presidential election. Then the Federal Reserve (Fed) finally got around to raising interest rates, as was widely expected, last month.
As 2016 drew to a close, U.S. equities resided near record highs with investors eyeing the next significant round-number conquests for major U.S. indexes, such as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Although the market didn't break 20,000 last year, 2016 has been quite a ride.
Heading into 2017, claims that stocks are pricey may be exaggerated. The S&P 500 trades at 20 times operating earnings, which is not inexpensive, but not unreasonable considering interest rates remain low. While there are plenty of unknown factors impacting stocks heading into 2017, earnings growth should be healthy. Although… Read More …