JPMorgan Asset Management's David Kelly has some words of advice for investors rattled by a hawkish Federal Reserve: forget about short-term direction and focus on valuations.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell sent equity markets into a tailspin Friday after he reiterated that the central bank is willing to raise rates and keep them higher for longer to tame inflation, even at the risk of an economic downturn. That quashed hopes of a dovish pivot anytime soon, a view that helped fuel bets this year's bear market is over.
"The economy has got one foot into a recession and the other on the banana peel now," the chief global strategist said in an interview Friday after Powell's speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Given this backdrop, the best way to be positioned now is to look at valuations.
"Make sure you overweight U.S. and international value, as well as stocks with relatively low price-to-earnings ratio," he said.
Markets have been on a roller-coaster ride this year, falling on fears tightening monetary policy to rein in inflation running at the fastest clip in four decade would dip the economy into recession. Bulls took solace in prospects for inflation peaking, the Fed slowing the pace of rate hikes and a soft landing.
