Stocks falter as Apple disappoints, but financials lead gains.

Traders are betting heavily on a decline in the S&P 500 as the index nears a new bull market, with S&P 500 futures 17.4% short, the worst reading since September 2007. While some strategists point to a lagging impact of stricter Fed policy and potential declining earnings in the second half of the year, others believe the momentum driven by the AI surge will persist for the foreseeable future. The slow churn upward of the S&P 500 has left strategists increasingly mixed on what comes next, but some have boosted their price targets, including BMO Capital Markets chief investment strategist Brian Belski, who believes stock market resilience is here to stay.