The U.S. economy is in the early stages of a secular bull market, similar to market conditions of the mid 1940s to 1960s and early 1980s to 2000 that resulted in significant market gains, the chief investment officer for Invesco’s U.S. Growth Equities team said Tuesday.
“We’re quite bullish on the market,” said Juliet Ellis, who also serves as senior portfolio manager for small cap equity strategies. “It’s our perspective that we’re going to look back five years from now and see that we were in the early stages of a secular bull market.”
Ellis believes the secular bull market will be driven by earnings growth, dividends and expansion of price-earnings (P/E) multiples. While bullish, Ellis noted 2014 might see a market correction, which would create a buying opportunity.
When it comes to what impact Federal Reserve action will have on the equity market, investors need to continue to monitor to assess whether the Fed is moving too quickly.
“To me, the recent behavior of the Fed demonstrates a commitment to not too much (action) too fast,” Ellis said. “But, more importantly, what it signals to me is the U.S. economy has finally reached stable footing, and that it can sustain its economic growth independent of global macro conditions.”
Ellis spoke Tuesday before an invited audience of more than 100 financial professionals and business leaders as part of Invesco’s “2014 Global Market Outlook” panel, held at the company’s global headquarters in Midtown Atlanta.
For more information about Invesco, visit www.invesco.com. The opinions expressed are current as of 1/14/14, are based on current market conditions and are subject to change without notice.