Wall Street’s new biggest bull is growling like a bear. Wells Fargo Securities’ Chris Harvey raised his year-end price target for the S&P 500 by about 20% this week. However, he is not particularly enthusiastic about the path of increasing market prices. “This is weird. This won’t sound very good. But even though we were highly valued on the street, I don’t feel bullish,” the head of equity strategy told CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Tuesday. “It’s not a matter of, ‘Wow, multiples are so cheap. Everything will be fantastic. The economy is on fire. The Fed is cutting rates and they’re going to start cutting tomorrow.” Harvey, who once called himself “not a very positive guy” during an interview with CNBC, raised his official S&P 500 target for 2024 to 5,535 on Monday. That suggests a gain of about 6% from Tuesday’s close of 5,209.91. Harvey made his comments about Fast Money the day before the Labor Department released its March Consumer Price Index report. He suggested that the economy was in a period of crisis. However, he believes stocks can still rally as tech and mega-cap growth companies lead the way. “Large caps don’t need a strong economy because you’ll get a change in market share. The winners, the higher-margin, faster-growing companies, will get the majority of that market share,” Harvey said. “So if winners keep winning, you don’t need that kind of growth, and that’s what we’re looking for.” For the rest of the year, he recommends a balanced approach to investing. He likes the preponderance of communications services and sees artificial intelligence as secular history. “If the status quo continues, growth is good. This is good for growth. It’s good for momentum and good for large-caps,” Harvey added. “If we start to see rates go down, what will work? Things that are out of favor: utilities, small caps, higher leveraged companies.” Harvey’s target for the S&P 500 at the end of 2023 was 4,420. The index ended the year up 24.2%, settling at 4,769.83. Denial of responsibility
