As artificial intelligence continues to dominate stock market headlines and capture investor attention, one top strategist is urging people not to lose sight of other opportunities. Marta Norton, chief investment strategist at Empower, appeared on “The Claman Countdown” to discuss how investors might think about diversifying their portfolios at a time when AI enthusiasm has reached a fever pitch.
Norton pointed to corporate earnings and the resilience of the American consumer as important factors shaping the current market landscape. While consumers have shown surprising staying power despite inflation and higher interest rates, she also flagged growing questions around capital expenditures in the tech sector, where companies are pouring enormous sums into AI infrastructure with uncertain timelines for returns.
That is precisely why Norton believes investors should be looking elsewhere for balance, and she identified healthcare as an especially compelling option right now. The sector offers what she described as robust defensive growth, giving investors a way to participate in market gains without tying their fortunes to the AI supply chain that has become so central to the recent rally in technology stocks.
For Norton, the message is not that investors should abandon AI-related holdings altogether but rather that concentration carries risks that many portfolios may be underpricing. Healthcare companies stand to benefit from long-term demographic trends like aging populations, and their earnings tend to hold up better when economic uncertainty rises. In a market environment where a handful of mega-cap tech names have driven much of the gains, having exposure outside that narrow group could prove valuable if sentiment eventually shifts or capital spending expectations come back down to earth.
