Many Wall Street analysts expect stocks to rise next year amid improving fundamentals.
Morgan Stanley Chief U.S. Equity Strategist Adam Parker, who was bearish coming into this year, says the market will benefit from improvements in the European and U.S. debt crises and in the economies of emerging markets, the Financial Times reports.
S&P Capital IQ strategists think that improved picture will send the Standard & Poor’s 500 to 1,550 at the end of 2013, up 7 percent from Thursday’s close of 1,444.
Editor's Note: See the Disturbing Charts: 50% Unemployment, 90% Stock Market Crash, 100% Inflation
The S&P 500 has risen 13 percent so far this year.
With the Federal Reserve planning to keep short-term interest rates near zero until the unemployment rate drops to 6.5 percent, dividend stocks remain an attractive alternative for investors seeking income.
“Any income related to equity exposure is the way to go in 2013,” Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank, tells the Times.
To be sure, some analysts have concerns about stocks.
“The stock market appears to have adopted a surprisingly benign view that Congress and the White House will reach agreement to avert the full impact of the fiscal contraction [cliff]," Goldman Sachs analyst David Kostin tells Business Insider.
Two-thirds of investors in a Potomac Research Group survey said the Dow Jones Industrial Average will drop at least 10 percent if a budget deal doesn’t happen by Dec. 31, according to The New York Times.
Editor's Note: See the Disturbing Charts: 50% Unemployment, 90% Stock Market Crash, 100% Inflation
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