US markets (^GSPC, ^IXIC, ^DJI) are mixed ahead of the closing bell.
Wilmington Trust chief investment officer Tony Roth joins Market Domination to break down why stocks could currently be 5–10% too high and what weaker growth could mean for Federal Reserve rate cuts.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here.
For more on the latest market moves, let's get to Tony Roth here, Wilmington Trust, CIO. Wilmington Trust has over $79 billion in assets under management. Tony, it is good to see you. So, uh, talking earlier with Julie Howell, we did get that economic data today, Tony, and it was, it was weaker than expected. ADP weaker, ISM services weaker. But stocks, Tony, I mean, SPX is, is up today, albeit slightly. Just curious to get your take on the market moves.
Yeah, I think that the market is a little complacent right now to be honest. The, the environment is one where there's continues to be a tremendous amount of macro uncertainty with respect to both tariffs and the degree of, um, further debt load that the country is going to be taking on over the next decade due to the big beautiful bill. And so, the, the market at these valuations is not really pricing in negative outcomes for those issues, which are the, the really defining issues of the next six to 12 months in the market. And so if you, if you think that those issues are going to resolve to perfection, then I think these levels are justified. But if you think that the process of working through trade deals will take longer than June, July, July 7th, then I think you're going to see a pretty flat economy for the rest of the year. And on top of that, we have a, uh, if you will, a spasm in the bond market because of the amount of debt that's being taken on. People walk away from long-term treasuries and the long end of the curve, the 30-year part of the curve is the place to, to see that happen. Not really the 10 year, which is more tied to short-term inflation, then that's also going to weigh on markets. So, at the moment, markets are, um, probably overextended. And it's not to say that we necessarily get a big correction from here, but I wouldn't be surprised to see one.
Um, and so what's the most, what do you think is a more appropriate level then for stocks right here that would sort of capture fair value better than where we're seeing them trade right now?
Yeah, it's a great question. We're a couple, a couple percent above all time, uh, below all time highs. So five to 10% lower than I think where we are today would probably make a lot of sense. The other thing to keep in mind is that even if we do have the perfect outcome on tariffs and a reasonable outcome on the big beautiful bill, which would be to say the Senate takes at least a few hundred million, excuse me, a few hundred billion dollars, um, out of the expected additional debt that the country takes on, we're not expecting to see growth really for the rest of the year. We're expecting to see a technical bump in growth in the second quarter as a result of the slowing of imports. And then in this, in the third and the fourth quarters, it's a pretty flat overall real GDP picture. Uh, maybe no growth at all. Um, maybe even a slight contraction in the third and the fourth quarters. So that does not set up for a market environment that is overly appealing. Uh, now, having said that, there are some drivers. I think that the re-ignition of the, of the, of the tech and the AI trade is, is interesting. And, and we believe that the Fed will start cutting, probably in July. Um, it may not be till September, but, um, regardless, with, we see 100 basis points of cuts between now and the end of the year. But that's not going to be, um, in the context of good growth. Um, it's going to be in the context of weak growth. And those cuts will be driven largely by the third rail of growth, really decelerating.