Oil prices and the stock market may finally start moving independently of each other, strategist Bob Doll said Monday.
"That would be great news," Nuveen Asset Management's chief equity strategist and senior portfolio manager told CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange." "The decoupling of the stock market and oil are necessary at some point in time, because we know lower oil is good for the U.S. economy and markets."
Fears surrounding depressed oil, which rocked markets in early 2016, may have been laid to rest, according to Doll.
Both oil prices and stocks bottomed on Feb. 11. Since then, West Texas Intermediate crude surged 44 percent and the gained nearly 11 percent. The S&P's rally last week, pushed the index into the green for the year, based on Friday's close.
"Oil didn't go to $20, we didn't have a recession here in the U.S., [and] China didn't suck us into some big black hole," he said. "Now we're going to look to the real economy in growth and earnings."
It's been an ugly few quarters for corporate earnings thanks to falling oil prices and a rising U.S. dollar, but these two seem to be reversing, which could be a slight boost for earnings this year, Doll said.
"That's what's necessary for stocks to do OK," Doll said, referring to a reversal in oil and the dollar. "If we can get some of that, we'll have some modest earnings improvement for the full year."
Financials have been among the worst performing sectors in the S&P this year, down 4.3 percent. At the core of bad performance was the notion the Federal Reserve would "never raise interest rates again" and the banks were full of bad energy loans, Doll said.
"Neither of those were true, and the banks have some proving to do and it's got to be through earnings and that's not going to be overnight," Doll said. "My view of the banks are trading vehicles. I don't think we'll have any big runs frankly until next cycle."
The health-care sector has also been struggling, which he said tends to happen in election year.
"We have some issues related to pricing and that just bothers investors," Doll said. "I think health care will not be one of the favorite sectors for the balance of the year."
Doll favors technology and free cash flow instead.