As investors get jittery about U.S. growth data and the timing of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve, influential investor Dennis Gartman told CNBC Thursday that he's still optimistic about equities – to some extent.
"I think that neutrality is the better part of valor at this point. I've said for years that it's still a bull market and in a bull market there are only three positions that one can have: really long,pleasantly long or neutral," Gartman,the editor and publisher of "The Gartman Letter," told CNBC Thursday
"And I think for the time being, neutrality is the proper course of action." A neutral investor aims to avoid risks by hedging.
Gartman added that he believed U.S. equities would decline between 3 and 5 percent in the coming days or weeks, so neutrality "was the best place to be."