The U.S. market is Barclays Capital's favorite to watch in 2011, said Kevin Gardiner, head of investment strategy at the firm.
“People have overlooked the value in their backyard—the U.S.,” Gardiner told CNBC. “Valuations of large corporate companies are at levels that we think are very attractive.”
Gardiner said the S&P 500 could move up another 10 percent in 2011.
“The emerging market story is a great one, but don’t forget that there are decent stock values [in developed markets] too,” he said.
“From an investment standpoint, Egypt is not a big deal,” continued Gardiner. “The Egyptian market and the other markets in the area are not big enough to ruffle global portfolios, and the impact that they’re having on commodity prices so far is smaller than we might have feared.”
Among his top sectors, Gardiner likes technology, consumer discretionary and is “warming up” to the financials. However, he is avoiding the consumer staples and utilities.
“For the time being, there’s more cyclical excitement out there as we’ve seen with the ISM numbers,” he said. “Even at this late stage, the surprise to the upside quite clearly tells us that short-term growth story is stronger than what people think.”
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Scorecard—What He Said:
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Tuesday's Top Dow Gainers (As of Mid-Morning):
Pfizer
Alcoa
Bank of America
General Electric
Exxon Mobil
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Disclosure:
No immediate information was available for Gardiner or his firm.
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