Are valuations, the US dollar really the biggest risks for 2025?

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US stocks (^DJI,^GSPC, ^IXIC) are trading near record highs to kick off the final month of 2024. Carson Group chief market strategist Ryan Detrick joins Market Domination Hosts Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton to discuss his expectations for the market in December and positioning ahead of the new year, as well as what he sees as the two biggest risks to the market.

The strategist says he expects some profit chasing into the year-end:

"There's not a lot of news, normally, in December. Now this one, we do have a Fed [Federal Reserve] meeting — Will they or won't they cut? We've got a couple [of] things to think about. But the reality is you tend to see a chase in strong years. And we just think that's the case. And still with a lot of money managers underperforming overall, that's why we think it will still happen."

Looking ahead to 2025, Detrick expects "a dovish Fed," continued "record earnings" and "the strongest profit margins this cycle."

"The third year of a new bull market tends to be a little bit choppier," the strategist says, adding that he expects small and mid-cap leadership's "big theme" to be "overall a lot of participation."

Detrick says the two biggest risks to the market in 2025 are valuation and the strength of the US dollar: "Valuations are stretched now [and] honestly, 12 months ago people were talking about valuations stretched, [which] just means the bar is a little higher."

The strategist adds that while the strong dollar has been holding since the 2024 election, "a lot of people are talking about higher yields. That inner contrarian in me thinks those are going to come back down. But if the US dollar continues to strengthen, that could kind of upset the apple cart."

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This post was written by Naomi Buchanan.