Though stocks snapped a three-day losing streak Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 have declined more than 1 percent each for the week, but investor Dennis Gartman remains optimistic about equities.
"This is still a bull market and one can only be either very long, or reasonably long, or neutral," Gartman said on CNBC, adding he's currently "neutral" on the market, though. "I'll come back to being bullish again on either weakness or the market going sideways."
Gartman, editor and publisher of The Gartman Letter, told "Closing Bell" he sees the most opportunity in cyclical stocks, meaning equity securities whose price is affected by ups and downs in the overall economy. On the belief that the U.S. economy is strengthening, Gartman said he'll buy "the things that go along with economic growth," such as railroads, steelmakers and shipping companies.
"The shipping industry has been battered for the last several years," Gartman said. "I think we're about to see the shipping business start to turnaround. We're going to take some capacity out, I hope, and I think that's one place [to invest]."
As far as steel companies go, Gartman listed U.S. Steel as one name he likes in particular.
On the other hand, Gartman said he wants to avoid "things I don't understand," like big pharmaceutical companies and technology.
—By CNBC's Drew Sandholm. Follow him on Twitter @DrewSandholm
