Worst May Be Over for Stocks And US Economy, Cohen Says - Economy * US * News * Story

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CNBC ON DIGG

Worst May Be Over for Stocks And US Economy, Cohen Says

By: JeeYeon Park, CNBC News Associate | 13 Apr 2009 | 10:22 AM ET

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The US stock market appears to have hit bottom and the nation's economy might see an upward shift in the latter half of the year, widely watched investment strategist Abby Joseph Cohen told CNBC.
Abby Joseph Cohen

“One thing to keep in mind is that we have undergone many months of very dramatic declines in earnings expectations, and also in revisions to the economic forecast by macro-forecasters,” said Cohen, president of the Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute. “And something has changed over the past month and that is that the consensus numbers aren’t being adjusted very much. I think that means that many investors now believe that the forecasts are finally as low as they need to be.”

Goldman Sach is forecasting that the S&P 500, currently around 850, will hit 900 by the end of this year, Cohen said in a live interview.

Meanwhile, investors should be more trading-oriented than usual to take advantage of the market's volatility.

“What we’re suggesting to many of our clients is that they be somewhat more trading oriented than normal because the markets are more volatile,” Cohen said. “Just last week, our analysts in the retail sector indicated that they were seeing some opportunities among some securities with a little higher beta. We’ve also had significant opportunities in some of the categories related to natural resources and industrials.”

Cohen said the markets are more normal than they have been in the past few months, a reason investors can feel more comfortable.

(Watch Part 2 of the Interview)

“This applies not only to the equity market but also to the bond market,” she said. “We’re beginning to see some better news appear, but let’s keep in mind that we have some bad news, particularly with regard to unemployment. The question for investors is whether or not that bad news is already incorporated in share prices.”