Wells Fargo Shares 2010 Outlook: 'Little Upside'

By Janet Levaux

July 23, 2010 at 12:57 PM

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The Wells Fargo Advisors' Advisory Services Group, led by chief macro strategist Gary Thayer, has just released its 2010 Midyear and Economic Outlook, including its prediction that the stock markets will see "little upside progress" in the last few months of 2010.

Other points of note in the report are as follows:

· – Economic growth should be slower than normal and average 2.8% later this year.

· – The Consumer Price Index —measuring inflation —should be about 2% for the 12 months ending in December 2010.

· – The group suggests being underweight in developed equity markets and overweight in emerging markets. And, overall, the Wells Fargo team sees Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Singapore and Sweden as attractive.

· – Cyclically sensitive sectors that are in favor include industrials, materials and telecom services. Investors may also want to build positions in anticipation of stronger '11 markets.

· – In the commodities arena, platinum, palladium, copper and crude oil are viewed as attractive; the group is neutral on gold, and sees natural gas, silver and aluminum as unattractive.

· – In fixed income, it suggests being overweight in corporate and municipal bonds, slightly overweight in high yield, neutral on emerging markets, slightly underweight in U.S. Treasuries, and underweight in mortgage-backed and agency securities.

Wells Fargo is set to release its second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, July 21.

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