Brian Levitt, global market strategist at Invesco, says that the years after peak inflation and peak tightening tend to be good for markets, and he expects that to continue with a market and economy that he thinks can avoid big downturns. Levitt says the economy never got the recession many people expected because the economy didn't have a lot of e…

Dominic Ceci, chief investment officer at Johnson Financial Group, says that while a soft landing has been priced into the stock market, sticky inflation is what could make things take a turn for the worse, noting that the longer inflation hangs around, interest rates won't be cut and that will lead to a rougher downturn. Ceci says interest rates a…

Jeremy Schwartz, global chief investment officer at WisdomTree, says that despite current headlines, the economy will have a higher real growth rate, with productivity improved by technological advances and continued full employment, which should help the economy avoid recession. He notes that inflation rates may not be quite as high as they seem, …

Jack Janasiewicz, portfolio strategist for Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, says that inflation is moving in the right direction -- albeit more slowly -- and economic growth remains resilient, creating an environment where corporate earnings continue to grind higher. That has him locking into his plan and overweighting stocks. Janasiewicz say…

Lyle Fitterer, portfolio manager for the Baird Strategic Municipal Bond fund, says that investors should take the Federal Reserve at its word, expecting interest rates to have peaked, anticipate a cut but don't expect it to happen until the numbers warrant it. That may not happen until late in the year or into 2025. Meanwhile, he notes investors ar…

Andrey Kutusov, portfolio manager on the global, international and emerging markets small-cap teams at Seven Canyons Advisors, says that "near-shoring" or "China plus one" supply-chain diversification will "be the dominant force in international markets over the next decade." Kutusov says that geopolitical pressure and rising labor costs have pushe…

Scott Wren, senior global market strategist at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, expects the Federal Reserve to cut rates, but no more than twice this year and in September at the earliest, and he says it's increasingly likely the moves won't start until 2025. The amazing thing, Wren says, is that the stock market got to where it was flirting w…

Marko Papic, chief strategist at Clocktower Group, says that two wars have had less impact on markets that many observers have expected because the market has recognized that geopolitical events require a direct tie to earnings before they can truly dampen gains. Because of that -- but also because of issues he sees with the domestic economy -- Pap…

David Ellison, portfolio manager for the Hennessy Large Cap and Small Cap Financials funds, says that investors should not expect the classic thinking of lower rates equals higher margins and bank stocks go up, because the math may not work that way this time, which is why he is hoping rates stay where they are for longer. Ellison says that the Fed…

Ben Ashby, head of investments at Rayliant Global Advisors, says he's not particularly worried about what two current wars and other issues are doing to the economy ad stock market now, but that his real worry is federal policies in terms of fiscal expenditures. "To me, that doesn't look sustainable, and that looks more like an emerging market than…

Dan Zanger, founder and chief technical analyst at ChartPattern.com, says that he has followed the leaders out of the market, noting that the artificial-intelligence companies that had led the market's rally to new highs have now gone into consolidations and he's content to accept money-market returns until the market changes its tune and the chart…

Edward Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research, says the economy is resilient enough to handle current levels of interest rates, and that better economic growth will allow earnings to drive the stock market higher even as anticipated rate cuts from the Federal Reserve are put off until 2025. Yardeni says he expects th…

Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, says that the current issues keeping inflation high are about supply-side economics and are the kinds of problems that the Federal Reserve can't just fix by cutting interest rates. So while he sees the Fed as having pulled off the soft landing earlier this year, it can't "save us" this…

With Wednesday's release of the latest Consumer Price Index numbers shaking the market's confidence that the Federal Reserve will cut rates soon, Chuck gets the latest take from Christian Chan, chief investment officer at AssetMark, and Gargi Chaudhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist at BlackRock. Both see the Fed as acting, though Chan …

George Milling-Stanley, chief gold strategist at State Street Global Advisors, says that inflation staying stubbornly above the target of the Federal Reserve -- despite the central bank's moves that have raised interest rates to 20-year highs -- has created the kind of market conditions in which gold, historically, has thrived. He does not think go…

Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at Hi Mount Research, says the bullish sentiment and investor optimism should lift the commodities market and help the market rally keep rolling, though he says investors should be worried that conditions are taking a turn for the worse when more stocks are making new lows rather than new highs or the Standard…

Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank says 2024 will end up as "a pretty good year for the economy," with the soft nearly in place as the Fed starts to cut rates in the summer. He notes that worries about an interest-rate shock or an energy-price shock -- the big two drivers of recession -- are not exceptionally high right now and any raised…