Hedge funds gained 5.4 percent on average through May 10, compared with a 15.4 percent rise for the S&P 500 (SPX) and a 14.8 percent increase for the typical mutual fund, a team of Goldman Sachs analysts led by Amanda Sneider and David Kostin wrote ...

Another illustrative example is the S&P MidCap index which essentially takes the S&P 500 index and �tosses out� the biggest 100 companies so as to focus solely on the 400 smaller �up-and-comers� (which in the right environment can outperform their ...

U.S. stocks rose and extended a recent rally on Tuesday, with the Dow and the S&P 500 hitting new intraday highs as investors bet that the market's upward momentum would keep going.

That's because over the past year the U.S. stock market - as measured by the S&P 500 - has climbed the metaphoric �Wall of Worry� and advanced a whopping 31.5 percent over the past year and 17.8 percent so far in 2013.

Moreover, �should the S&P 500 'melt-up' above channel resistance, a longer-term measured move projects up to 1,775,� the analyst says.

economy Sasha Cekerevac: There continues to be mixed data regarding the strength of the economic recovery in America. This is creating an interesting divergence between the level of the S&P 500 and the growth rate of the economic recovery, which is far ...

The macro investment environment supports an above-average S&P 500 valuation. Our standard valuation approaches point to a P/E multiple of 14x forward earnings.

The S&P/TSX composite index jumped 47.50 points to 12,577.05, pushed up by substantial gains in the energy sector. The Canadian dollar weakened by 0.58 of a cent to 98.33 cents US.

THE TAKEAWAY: The US Dollar and the S&P 500 may struggle to find meaningful upward follow-through having set year-to-date highs over the past 24 hours.

"The forward 12-month P/E ratio for the S&P 500 now stands at 14.4, based on yesterday's closing price (1650.47) and forward 12-month EPS estimate ($114.94).