Long-term bear turns bull on financials

Energy, economic data and recently the financials sector continue to weigh on the market, raising questions on the odds of a recession, or whether the Fed will raise interest rates.

"I think that a lot has to go right for the Fed to feel as comfortable as they were in December," Steven Wieting, global chief investment strategist at Citi Private Bank, told "Closing Bell" on Monday. "The Fed could come back to its comfort zone by the end of the year," he said.

Wieting suggested that uncertainty in the financials was able to sideline the committee in January.

While 9 out of 10 sectors of the S&P were negative Monday, one of the greatest contributors was the financials sector, down almost 3 percent. It hit new 52-week lows on the day. The S&P ended down 27 points Monday.

Former long-term bear Mike Mayo, research analyst at CLSA Americas, turned bull recently after 17 years. He told CNBC on Monday that U.S. banks are more resilient than they were before. The analyst claims that while bank earnings were soft, they have strong balance sheets.

"If you want one number to sum up the strength of the balance sheets, it's $1.7 trillion," he said on "Closing Bell." "That's the equity of the U.S. banking industry."

Mayo said that even if investors were to charge off loans from energy companies and emerging markets debt, the balance sheets would remain strong. He added that concerns that have spilled over from European banks are overdone.

Mayo attributes the "bank sell-off" to interest rates, China and energy fears as factors that are hurting the banks.