For years, Tom Lee has been known as Wall Street's eternal bull. His S&P targets were virtually always the most bullish on the street. When I reviewed what other strategists were predicting this year and Tom Lee hadn't released his numbers, I just assumed he would be the most bullish on the street, again. Perhaps we should check to see if Tom Lee has been abducted by aliens and replaced by a clone because Tom Lee is the most bearish strategist on the street with a S&P target of just 2275.
Will the stock market boom or bust in 2017?
As we near a close to 2016, it is time to look forward to 2017. We have done this in 2014, 2015, and 2016 so it is becoming a tradition to see which strategists did well and which missed the mark. What do the experts think will happen in 2017 and should we even care?
Perhaps you are familiar with Philip Telock's landmark UC Berkeley study that looked at 82,000 predictions over 25 years by 300 leading economists. It turned out that their so called expert views were no better than random guesses, and worse, the more famous, the less accurate the prediction.
Last year, the strategists predicted a bull market for 2016 and they almost hit the number right on the mark. Their average forecast was for a 7.2% gain in the S&P 500 to 2215. They should get a round of applause as the S&P finished at 2239. Well done. Deutsche Bank's David Bianco gets the highest grade with a forecast of 2250, only missing by 11 points. Barclays' Jonathan Glionna should also be given a trophy as he was within 2% for the past couple of years. Let's look at the numbers.
Economic Data Says Market Can Go Higher
Stocks continued to move up last week as all major U.S. indices hit new highs. Investor optimism rose as expectations for deregulation, possible tax cuts and fiscal stimulus under the new administration accelerated. These same factors put upward pressure on bond yields and the U.S. dollar. A strong Dollar has historically been good for the stock market. The reasoning is simple. If you are a European or Japanese, would you leave your money in a bank which takes a piece of your money given negative interest rate policies; or would you rather send your money to the US where we have positive interest rates and a rising stock market?
Happy Thanksgiving
The Runnymede team is full of gratitude and sends its thanks to all clients, friends, and colleagues this Thanksgiving day. Whether you are home or traveling far, please know that you are dear to our hearts.
Black swan watch: European banks
In 2007, Nassim Taleb published his best-selling book “”The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.”” Taleb contends that banks and trading firms are very vulnerable to hazardous Black Swan events and are exposed to losses beyond those that are predicted by their defective financial models. This proved to be right on the mark as one year later, the financial system almost collapsed due to poor financial models that predicted real estate prices would go up forever.
Systematically Tracking Financial Weather Conditions
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