U.S. stocks face headwinds in 2024 and appear to have already priced in potential positive events, Bob Doll, chief investment officer at Crossmark Global Investments, suggested Monday.
Stock market jitters so far this year appear to stem from investors' second thoughts about how many times the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in 2024, according to Doll.
"It is unlikely that the Fed will cut rates as much as the market expects, six times," he said in his weekly newsletter.
Fewer Fed cuts could put upward pressure on longer-term interest rates and downward pressure on stocks' price-to-earnings ratios, he added.
Stocks should face headwinds due to a weakening macroeconomic backdrop, Doll said. Full-year corporate earnings estimates have dropped by nearly $2 in the past two weeks, he said, noting that the firm has predicted that corporate earnings growth will miss the 11% analyst consensus estimate.
