Strategist explains the US economy's 'interesting balance'

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After the market (^DJI,^GSPC, ^IXIC) experienced a volatile last few weeks, Citigroup head of US equity strategy Scott Chronert joins Morning Brief to discuss his equity outlook for the second half of 2024

"I think what everyone is focused on right now is the labor situation. And we know we've seen some deterioration. The concern is that as that perpetuates, it begins to feed on itself to the downside... And that's probably a primary focus for the Fed [Federal Reserve] at this point," Chronert tells Yahoo Finance.

He notes that on a macro level, the economy is in a "pretty interesting balance."

"You're seeing many economic indicators show signs of bottoming around historic levels. At the same time, you're seeing some deterioration in other components. So from our perspective, it's a fairly mixed macro bag," Chronert says.

On the earnings front, Chronert expects to see a broadening out from Big Tech. He estimates the Magnificent Seven to post at least 20% earnings growth in 2025 while earnings for the rest of the S&P 500 (^GSPC) broaden out.

"The market is willing to price in what we're arguing is that, all told, the setup continues to be for earnings resilience. And we're going to define that by sort of a high single-digit rate of earnings growth in this year, with followthrough for another high single-digit rate of earnings growth for 2025," he adds.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl

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