As the closed at a third record high in three days Thursday, David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff explained on CNBC what he believed was really driving the stock market rally.
On "Fast Money," Rosenberg took issue with the characterization of the stock market rally as "earnings-driven."
"Well how can that possibly be? Because last I saw, fourth-quarter operating EPS is running at $23.32," he said. "That's actually down 1.7 percent from where we were a year ago. If anything, the 12-month rolling numbers on earnings are actually negative, and yet the stock market's up 14 percent over the past year.
"Earnings are down 1.7 percent, so draw your own conclusion. This is actually a rally led to a higher multiple that is tied directly to the Fed's balance sheet and its elongated period of negative real interest rates."
Gluskin Sheff's chief economist and strategist also said that good news in Friday's employment report was already priced in and wouldn't make much of a difference unless it was significantly higher than expected, showing, say, 200,000 new jobs.
"I think strong numbers are already priced in, and, frankly, I'm not so sure the economic data right now are the principal drivers for the market," he said. "I'm one of those that believe this is largely a liquidity/Fed-led marketplace, so I'm not so sure the data are going to take center stage one way or the other."
Rosenberg said that market bulls would want to see additional economic indicators besides the jobs report.
But either way, he expected the market to shrug off good news or bad news.
"We're almost in this heads-I-win, tails-I-win sort of a marketplace," he said.
Trader disclosure: On March 7, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Guy Adami is long C; Guy Adami is long GS; Guy Adami is long INTC; Guy Adami is long AGU; Guy Adami is long MSFT; Guy Adami is long NUE; Guy Adami is long BTU; Karen Finerman is long AAPL; Karen Finerman is long BAC; Karen Finerman is long C; Karen Finerman is long JPM; Karen Finerman is long WMT; Karen Finerman is long TGT; Karen Finerman is long MSFT; Karen Finerman is long GOOG; Karen Finerman is long HRB; Karen Finerman is short SPY; Steve Grasso is long AAPL; Steve Grasso is long ASTM; Steve Grasso is long BA; Steve Grasso is long GOOG; Steve Grasso is long GDX; Steve Grasso is long LF; Steve Grasso is long LNG; Steve Grasso is long MHY; Steve Grasso is long PXD; Steve Grasso is long NVIV; Steve Grasso is long PFE; Steve Grasso is long S; Steve Grasso is long VLO; Steve Grasso is funds long HPQ; Steve Grasso is funds long MU; Steve Grasso is funds long ZNGA; Steve Grasso is funds long GM; Steve Grasso is funds long USG; Brian Kelly is long BOVESPA FUTURES; Brian Kelly is long S&P 500 FUTURES; Brian Kelly is long GOLD FUTURES; Brian Kelly is short Copper futures;
For Mark Mahaney
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