Why Ed Yardeni is still bullish on stocks overall in 2026

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  January 02, 2026 at 19:36  |  4:01  |  CNBC
Speakers
Ed Yardeni — President, Yardeni Research
Brian Sullivan — Anchor, CNBC (Last Call / Power Lunch)

Summary

Ed Yardeni joins CNBC's Power Lunch and reiterates a bullish overall stock-market view for 2026 with a 7700 S&P 500 target. He says he has AI fatigue and prefers the impressive 493 non-Mag 7 stocks over AI-heavy trades, while still liking semiconductors and Google. He favors financials, industrials, healthcare/biotech, materials, and precious metals. The host also discusses AI fatigue and whether big tech names have become utility-like.

  • Ed Yardeni remains bullish overall stocks with a 7700 S&P 500 target.
  • He expresses AI fatigue and caution on AI trade valuations.
  • He favors the impressive 493 non-Mag 7 S&P 500 stocks.
  • He is overweight financials and industrials.
  • He sees healthcare, especially biotech, doing reasonably well.
  • He likes materials and precious metals amid stimulative monetary and fiscal policy.
  • He remains positive on semiconductors and Google, disclosing personal ownership of Google.
  • The host questions whether Apple and big tech AI names are utility-like with limited growth.
Ideas
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 0:07
Favor S&P 493 over AI trades.
He has AI fatigue and sees uncertainty around AI capital spending and elevated valuation multiples on AI trades. He therefore favors the non-Mag 7 S&P 500 stocks, or the impressive 493, while still liking semiconductors and Google as exceptions.
AI-SECTOR HIGH
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 0:07
Favor S&P 493 over AI trades.
He has AI fatigue and sees uncertainty around AI capital spending and elevated valuation multiples on AI trades. He therefore favors the non-Mag 7 S&P 500 stocks, or the impressive 493, while still liking semiconductors and Google as exceptions.
S&P 493 HIGH
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 0:10
Bullish overall stocks, 7700 S&P target.
He remains bullish on the overall stock market into 2026 with a 7700 S&P 500 price target, even as he favors better relative opportunities outside the AI-heavy Magnificent 7.
SPY HIGH
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 1:03
Semiconductor demand remains strong.
He says technology is not finished and semiconductors are doing well, with still a lot of demand ahead for semiconductors.
SMH MED
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 1:08
Overweight financials for better opportunities.
He would put more money in financials and notes his firm has been overweighting the sector as a better opportunity outside AI-heavy leadership.
XLF HIGH
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 1:11
Overweight industrials for better opportunities.
He would put more money in industrials and notes his firm has been overweighting the sector as a better opportunity outside AI-heavy leadership.
XLI HIGH
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 1:15
Healthcare, especially biotech, should do well.
He thinks health care could do reasonably well this year and singles out biotech as especially attractive within the sector.
XLV XBI MED
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 2:17
Google may merit valuation multiple.
Among AI-related megacaps, he says Google may merit its valuation multiple and discloses that he personally owns some shares, while warning the view could change as innovation accelerates.
GOOG MED
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 3:16
Materials favored with policy stimulus.
He includes materials among the sectors he favors, supported by a year of stimulative monetary and fiscal policy.
XLB MED
Ed Yardeni President, Yardeni Research 3:16
Precious metals can continue higher.
He says precious metals have been doing very well and may very well continue, because monetary and fiscal policies are acting as a stimulative tag team with Fed easing/QE and bigger tax refunds.
GLTR HIGH
Up Next
4:50
Anthropic's strategy to outmaneuver big-spending rival OpenAI
CNBC · Jan 02
3:23
Why G Squared's Greene sees Verizon as a safe harbor stock in 2026
CNBC · Jan 02
4:42
Anticipating Tesla to scale-up CyberCab production in 2026, says Canaccord Genuity's Gianarikas
CNBC · Jan 02
15:51
Pantera Capital's Top Crypto Predictions for 2026
CoinDesk · Jan 02
4:27
President Trump delays some tariff hikes as U.S. slashes pasta tariffs
CNBC · Jan 02

This CNBC video, published January 02, 2026, features Ed Yardeni discussing AI-SECTOR, S&P 493, SPY, SMH, XLF, XLI, XLV, XBI, GOOG, XLB, GLTR. 10 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Ed Yardeni  · Tickers: AI-SECTOR, S&P 493, SPY, SMH, XLF, XLI, XLV, XBI, GOOG, XLB, GLTR