Can stocks rally to year-end? Here's what you need to know

Asks Josh Brown for his view on markets as the final month of the year begins.

Scott

Josh Brown

The most obvious thing that will happen is that people will buy the Mag-7 stocks. People want a new narrative but these are the biggest, most liquid stocks and they're not even expensive.

Meta at 22x forward PE, NVIDIA at 24x forward PE as second cheapest in Mag-7. Momentum swing since Nov 20th with 86% of XLK names above 10-day MA, highest since July. These names are being accumulated. Everyone gets how this year is going to end.

Joe

Mag-7 is the essence of quality and will remain concentrated in 2026, similar to 2023-2024. Apple is up 40% since August 5th with price target increases.

References Loop Capital raising Apple price target without mentioning Apple Intelligence execution, questioning whether success is priced in.

Challenges Joe for skipping past December and talking about 2026 when Josh was discussing rest of this year.

Scott

Joe

I have no idea what's going to happen in the final three weeks of the year with liquidity coming out, lower volumes, inflation reading, Fed meeting, yields rising.

Beginning Labor Day said we'd have chase for performance into year-end and we've had it, but now less than 30 days from calendar turning with many dynamics.

Jim

I'm on the other side - liquidity has come back to the market with shutdown ending, Treasury putting money in accounts, QT ending yesterday.

Crypto up today is what should happen with increasing liquidity and risk-on sentiment. Agrees with Josh that Mag-7 will perform into year-end, but also seeing non-AI names like Delta Airlines, Wynn Resorts performing well.

Shannon

Areas starting to perform better are around consumer as pressure eases. Broadening out is picking up steam with expectation of stronger growth next year and better holiday spending.

Easy button for AI is mega-caps/Mag-7 and people will continue to buy, but important to note broadening to areas where people have been hesitant. AI enabler trade continues into 2026, but need to shift focus to strong balance sheet, cash flow generative adopters of AI for next phase.

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