Markets rose on Wednesday despite a weaker-than-expected reading on the services sector. Is the economy in the middle of a recovery and if so, how can investors play it? Bill Spiropoulos, CEO of CoreStates Capital Advisors, and John Merrill, founder and CIO of Tanglewood Wealth Management, shared their insights.
“We’re in a definite bullish trend for equities,” Merrill told CNBC.
“That doesn’t mean that the pattern is straight up from here. Every bull market since World War II has had at least one 10 percent correction and I’m sure this one will at this time," he cautioned.
Merrill said this "cyclical bull market" is riding the better-than-expected economic news and earnings reports.
“The real power underneath this market can be seen by things like persistent movement from money market accounts into risk assets, the return to high growth and emerging markets. A very clear signal from the leading economic indicators index is that there’s more economic growth to come.”
Merrill said investors can buy the "best of breed stocks in America" for the "best price of the generation" relative to the overall market. He likes high quality stocks including ExxonMobil, Abbott Labs and Johnson & Johnson.
In the meantime, Spiropoulos said investors are still worried about another leg down in the markets.
“Every time there’s positive news on anything, the bears come out and rip it to shreds so there’s tremendous disbelief,” he said.
However, he said the numbers are gradually starting to turn positive and “slowly but surely, we’re returning to normal."
Spiropolous said he likes the multi-national companies based on the weak dollar.
“Anything you can smoke, eat or drink can be a big story in the next year, price-wise,” he said.
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Disclosures:
No immediate information was available for Merrill or Spiropoulos.
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