Steady Interest Rates Buoy U.S. Market, Strategists Say
By: Despite anxiety over subprime loans, tightening credit and weak housing, the U.S. stock market seems to keep bouncing back. Why? On "Morning Call," Bill Schultz, chief investment officer at McQueen, Ball & Associates, and David Dietze, president & chief investment strategist at Point View Financial Services, offered their takes.
"We have consumer spending bending, but not breaking," explained Schultz. He told CNBC's Liz Claman that he shares "the optimistic scenario of a 'soft landing' -- as long as inflation doesn't get out of control and interest rates don't rise."
"That's what's keeping this market going here," Schultz declared.
Dietz agreed -- up to a point. "For me, it all comes down to valuations, earnings and interest rates." He pointed to the Wall Street consensus that second-quarter earnings at S&P 500 companies will rise 4.4%, with share prices outpacing earnings growth.
But, he added, bonds are currently "a little more competitive, so right now the watchword is caution and selectivity."