Market bull John Stoltzfus is bracing for a rough patch, but he sees reasons to stay optimistic.
According to the Oppenheimer Asset Management chief investment strategist, the market rally off the March 23 low has a long runway ahead of it.
“We remain very bullish on this market,” Stoltzfus told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Wednesday.
His optimism is punctuated by the trillions of dollars parked on the sidelines, and the idea the U.S. will successfully get the coronavirus pandemic under control.
“You’re going to see money beginning to further move out of the bond market, and it makes all the sense in the world to be positioned in equities,” Stoltzfus said.
Yet, he acknowledges near-term risks associated with the second stimulus package being debated on Capitol Hill, the country’s virus spikes and uncertainty surrounding the presidential election.
“In terms of downside risks, we’d say anywhere from 4% to 6%,” he said. “This has been a remarkable resurgence in the price of stocks on back of expectations that we will get to a post-Covid environment sometime probably within the next 6 to 8 months.”
Stoltzfus emphasizes a vaccine or revolutionary treatment is crucial to his forecast.
“That depends on progress or lack of progress related to vaccines, managing the resurgence and any sightings of a second wave,” he noted.
Stoltzfus came into 2020 with year-end price target of 3,500 on the S&P 500. He decided to abandon the target on March 23 due to raging pandemic and uncertainty.
With the index closing less than 2% from its all-time high, he hints that target may still be applicable.
“We can’t help but think with the S&P 500 at 3,327, it could look like that 3,500 target is within sights of where the markets could go,” Stoltzfus said.
