By Intense Life Desires 
A stunning artificial intelligence-driven rally in stocks from the March 30 low has made finding great investment opportunities that much harder.
The biggest challenge facing stocks right now: AI enthusiasm has been driving the 2026 market rally, making it difficult for investors to find value in sectors outside of this theme.
“Recent conversations with portfolio managers have focused on the challenge of finding investment opportunities in today’s equity market that are not tethered to a view on AI,” Goldman Sachs strategist Ben Snider wrote in a new note. “Within the market, few sectors have avoided being caught up in the One Big Trade of AI momentum.”
A couple of those sectors that have detached from AI momentum include energy, healthcare, real estate, and consumer staples.
Read more: How to protect your portfolio from an AI bubble
By the numbers: No doubt AI mania has taken over the broader market. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) has returned 10% year to date, with technology accounting for 85% of the index’s return and the S&P 500 excluding technology returning just 3%.
AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which accounts for 9% of the S&P 500’s market cap weight, has contributed 20% of the aggregate S&P 500’s year-to-date return.
During the past month alone, the S&P 500 has climbed to notch 14 record highs.
The bottom line: It may feel easy to make money in the markets right now, especially with momentum stocks in the AI patch like AMD (AMD) and Intel (INTC) driving the bullish action.
But nothing lasts forever, notably making easy gains in the markets.
“Since 1980, following 11 other comparable rallies, Momentum usually extended for another month before peaking and turning lower,” Goldman’s Snider warned. “For the S&P 500, sharp Momentum rallies with the market near a high usually preceded soft returns during the following few months. These episodes included mid-1998, late 1999, mid-2015, and late 2021.”
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance’s editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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