After calling the S&P 500’s climb this year, this strategist says hang on, the gains aren’t over.

With that in mind, and after a hairy 2022, some investors have taken money off the table in an attempt to preserve some of the bounce seen this year.

Buck up campers. So says our call of the day, from Finom Group’s chief market strategist, Seth Golden, who says the end of a five-month win streak for the S&P 500 is not all bad news.

Why listen to Golden? Well, in February he forecast the S&P 500 would reach 4,350 this year — a mark it hit in June. Batting away recession worries, he advised investors to take advantage of any weakness in large growth stocks. Amazon
AMZN,
+1.11%
and Visa
V,
+0.60%
were two of his suggestions and they have delivered this year.

As for where we are now, the strategist looks at data from Carson Investment Research’s Ryan Detrick, who examined five-month winning runs for the S&P 500 since 1950, and found that 79% of the time, the stretch extended to six months. While not the case this time, Golden pulls some encouraging data from that, such as how after five months of gains, the S&P 500’s forward performances six and 12 months later is on average up 82% and 93% of the time, respectively.

“The average S&P 500 returns 6 and 12 months later are also 6%+ and 12%+, for which savvy market participants may relish in whatever slop and chop price action develops further and in the interim,” said the strategist.

Other reasons not to throw in the towel right now? As Golden points out, the bull market was confirmed on 6/8/23, when the S&P 500 climbed 20% from its bear market low. That effort was 165 days in the making, the second longest bear-to-bull shift since 197 days in 1952.

“All but one of these former bear-to-bull markets lasted longer and delivered more gains than the current 9-month cycle. It would be very improbable that a new bear market has started at the 9-month mark, and doesn’t deliver more gains in the 12-month forward period,” he said. Read Golden’s full thoughts here.

Also read: Investors parked heavy in cash may be making a ‘mistake’, Nuveen says

The markets

A snoozefest so far. U.S. stock futures 
ES00,
+1.33%

NQ00,
+2.06%
are flat, following a perky Monday for equities, with the 10-year Treasury
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
steady at 4.195%. China stocks
XX:000300,
though, had a fairly upbeat session.

For more market updates plus actionable trade ideas for stocks, options and crypto, subscribe to MarketDiem by Investor’s Business Daily.

The buzz

Shares of consumer electronics retailer Best Buy
BBY,
+4.86%
are up on an earnings beat, though mixed outlook, with those of food group J.M. Smucker
SJM,
+2.06%
rising on a higher outlook. Server company Hewlett Packard Enterprises
HPE,
+0.33%
and PC and printer maker HP
HPQ,
+0.44%
will report after the bell.

Boo! Joann shares
JOAN,
-9.57%
are up 6% after early Halloween products drove forecast-beating sales for the arts and crafts retailer.

NIO
NIO,
-2.09%
stock is up after results for the Chinese EV maker disappointed, but it delivered an upbeat outlook. PDD
PDD,
+16.07%
is up 12.7% and moving toward a five-month high after the China-based mobile marketplace company reported forecast-beating results amid a “positive shift” in consumer sentiment.

AT&T
T,
+3.24%
and Verizon Communications
VZ,
+2.98%
both were upgraded to buy at Citi.

3M
MMM,
+1.66%
says it will pay up to $6 billion from 2023 to 2029 to settle a lawsuit against it and Aearo Technologies over earplugs sold to the U.S. military.

Merck
MRK,
+0.37%,
Amgen
AMGN,
+1.17%,
AbbVie
ABBV,
-0.25%
products are among the first 10 drugs that have been selected for Medicare price negotiations.

The S&P Case-Shiller home price index showed home prices rising in all of the U.S.’s top 20 cities. Still to come are job openings, expected to print a third month of under 10 million, and consumer confidence at 10 a.m.

Read: San Francisco Fed’s head of bank supervision to retire in wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse

Best of the web

Avoiding the 30-year mortgage loan trap can save you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel will pay these math-whiz interns $19,000 a month, but getting in the door is not easy.

President Biden may have used a pseudonym or two during his vice presidency, some 5,400 emails are suggesting.

The chart

Precious metals fans, your patience may about to be rewarded, says Crescat Capital portfolio manager, Tavi Costa, who shares the below tweet:

Also read: ‘We are buyers of gold on weakness’: Yellow metal appears resilient after surge in real rates, says Morgan Stanley

Top tickers

These were the most active stock-market tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. Eastern:

Random reads

Big, blue, beautiful. Once extinct prehistoric bird in New Zealand returns to the wild.

What’s it like inside a humpback whale? Pretty amazing, says this kayaker.

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