Wall Street veteran Edward Yardeni doesn’t expect the uptick in geopolitical concerns will ravage the stock market this year — even though President Donald Trump may not be making it easy to see that right now.
“I’ve never seen a President that has been this bullish and bearish at the same time,” the Yardeni Research President said Friday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation.”
On one hand, he said the Trump tax cuts have made the U.S. economy stronger. But at the same time, Yardeni pointed out the president’s protectionist policies are creating a lot of market anxiety.
“A lot of what’s going on is noise,” he said. “There is still money to be made in this market.”
Based on Yardeni’s market forecast: A lot of it.
He has a S&P 500 Index year-end price target of 3100, a surge of about 13 percent from current levels.
“Earnings are just fabulous. I mean we had a dramatic cut in the corporate tax rate at the end of last year,” the former New York Federal Reserve economist said. “We should really focus on the signal. And, the strong signal is earnings.”
According to Yardeni, cyclical groups will help take the S&P 500 to those levels. He’s particularly bullish on the consumer discretionary, industrials, financials and technology sectors.
Plus, he believes the small cap rally will continue to rage.
“Small cap stocks are on fire, at record highs, because they are not as exposed to the global economy in currency and protectionism,” Yardeni said.
