Investors see little to be gained in stocks the rest of the year, favor dividend payers now, CNBC survey shows - 04 iulie 2022
The market has had a tumultuous year, with the S&P 500 (DE.SXR8) on pace to wrap up its worst first half since 1970. Investors fear that the Federal Reserve will keep hiking rates aggressively to tame inflation, at the risk of causing an economic downturn.
The equity benchmark has tumbled into a bear market, down more than 20% from its record high reached in the first week of January.
Many notable investors, from Stanley Druckenmiller to David Einhorn to Leon Cooperman, have been skeptical that the central bank will be able to engineer a so-called “soft landing,” where growth slows but doesn’t contract.
Druckenmiller, for example, said the bear market has a ways to run, while Cooperman recently called the S&P 500 to drop 40% from peak to trough and predicted a recession next year.
When asked what their safest play is right now, half of the respondents said cash. Fifteen percent chose real estate, while 13% said Treasuries have the lowest risk.