'Disappointed' by Fed, Still Bullish on Stocks: Birinyi
Laszlo Birinyi continues to be bullish on stocks although he told CNBC Wednesday he was "disappointed with some of the language and the tone" of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke during the latter's press conference today.
The Fed's report, which slashed its forecast for economic growth while raising its unemployment forecast, was "not really a surprise," the president of Birinyi Associates said.
"We’re still positive. We can always have corrections," he said. "We’re in a long-term bull market, and just as we always do, we have periods where we slow down and stop."
In the same interview, Ken Fisher, chief executive of Fisher Investment, said he remains "not wildly optimistic" about this year.
However, he said, the economically-sensitive areas that do well when the market is up—energy, industrials, consumer discretionary stocks—fall when the market falls. When the market bounces back, he said, so will these sectors and that's where investors should put their money.
Fisher also takes a broader view: think globally first, think America second.
"When you look around the world, emerging market countries are actually cumulatively bigger than America's economy, and growing pretty darn nicely," he said.
He added, "In every economic expansion some countries lead, some countries lag. Right now we're in the middle of the pack. We in America are so used to being the leaders we have a hard time with it when we're not."