Stocks are entering a new bull cycle after a disgraceful 2022 performance, Leuthold Group chief investment strategist Jim Paulsen, told Bloomberg.
“If you think the bear market is not over, I get that and that’s one thing. I think the lows are in and I think we’re starting a new bull market,” he said during the Bloomberg interview that was broadcast Thursday.
“If … we are past the bear [market] and we have a modest or no recession and starting a new bull [market], I think the returns can be really pretty phenomenal – something around 5,000 in the coming 12 months,” he said of the potential mark for the S&P 500.
That level translates into a 26% upside from Thursday’s close at 3,952 and would beat the index’s all-time high of 4,818.62 notched in January. The index this year has plunged by about 17% with 10 of its sectors in the red. Only the energy sector has surged with a 52% leap.
Paulsen sees stocks entering a new bull market on about 60/40 odds of the US avoiding recession or the economy experiencing a mild recession.
