It's growth, not inflation keeping rates higher: Strategist
US stocks (^GSPC, ^IXIC, ^DJI) are up following cooler-than-expected inflation data from December's Producer Price Index (PPI) print. Horizon Investments Chief Investment Officer Scott Ladner joins Wealth to explain why a strong economy doesn't lead to a bad stock market and that elevated interest rates are not due to inflation. "The primary driver of these higher rates we've seen over the last month is not inflation worries. It's not inflationary types of things — it is growth," Ladner explains. Ladner warns investors not to ignore non-US equities, recalling past misjudgments from 2017 when the consensus was that US stocks would outperform due to factors like deregulation and tariff pressures. Additionally, Ladner speaks on technology (XLK) and financials (XLF) as strong sectors, with tech driven by AI and deregulation benefiting small financials. Major banks kick off earnings season with JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Citi (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), Bank of America (BAC), and Morgan Stanley (MS) set to report quarterly results throughout the week. "This is happening right now. Technology, you have to be a part of it... you can't be underweight [with] tech coming in for the next several years at least," Ladner says. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. This post was written by Josh Lynch
