Markets

The 'Trump rally' was actually a recovery rally, experts say

Markets need solid policy to get to next level: Memani
VIDEO2:2502:25
Markets need solid policy to get to next level: Memani

The recent bull market isn't a "Trump rally," but a reaction to a global economic recovery, two experts told CNBC's "Squawk Alley" on Friday.

The recovery has led to increased earnings, driving up stock prices, Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at OppenheimerFunds, explained.

Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, agreed. He argued that the magnitude of the"Trump effect" has been overstated.

"I really think that the market is much much less dependent upon Trump policies than people have made it out to be," Paulsen said. "I really think this is more about the synchronization of global economic growth, the broadest evidence of recovery hitting more corners of the globe than ever before."

It's not that President Donald Trump hasn't impacted the market, but that the effect has been minimal, Memani said. What the market needs from Trump — and what Memani contends it hasn't seen — is solid policy.

"Trump and his colleagues are talking about [making policy], but we haven't really seen anything," he said. "And the likelihood of that is going down by the day based on the cacophony of things that you hear from all of the policymakers."

Even if Trump does get his proposals through, both analysts agreed that Trump's policy won't really benefit the market. Paulsen said the tax and regulation cuts could help the financial sector, but that's the end of the good news.

"I think the rest of it becomes more problematic for Wall Street," he said. "I think, for example, a massive infrastructure spending program could be looked at as inflationary at a full[y] employed economy and getting into healthcare seems like it could be gridlock."

The overall outlook, Memani said, is that the market will continue to respond to a growing world economy, with little help from the White House.

"Even if you get tax reform and the Fed tightens and the dollar goes up, the impact of that on earnings and growth is actually not going to be that significant," he argued. "What we need is a fiscal expansion. What we need is deficit spending, and it doesn't look like we're going to get it today."