S&P expected to grow this year, study says

Financial advisers expect the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index to gain ground this year, according to a survey by Schwab Institutional of San Francisco. The study found that 58% of registered investment advisers expected the S&P 500 to gain ground this year, compared with 46% who felt that way in January. Despite the upbeat prediction, the majority of advisers — 77% — said it would be difficult to achieve clients' goals during the following six months, and 49% said their clients had requested more-conservative investment options. The prediction was in line with news that the S&P 500 has increased 0.06% per year over the 10-year period ended June 30. In addition, 22% of the advisers surveyed in Schwab's "Independent Adviser Outlook Study" planned to invest more in small-cap stocks, up from 9% in January. Only 19% said they would invest less in small-cap stocks, down from 38% in January. The July poll — of 1,010 registered investment advisers — was conducted by Koski Research of San Francisco. For more on the move to small-caps, see Large-cap doldrums drive alternative investment quest in today’s InvestmentNews.