Stocks Are In and Bonds Are Out: Top Trades for the Rest of the Year

US stocks will outperform the nation’s government and corporate bonds for the rest of this year as the Federal Reserve keeps cutting interest rates, the latest Bloomberg Markets Live Pulse survey shows.

Exactly 60% of the 499 respondents said they expect US equities will deliver the best returns in the fourth quarter. Outside of the US, 59% said they prefer emerging markets to developed ones. And as they ramp up these bets, they’re avoiding traditional ports of calm, such as Treasuries, the dollar and gold.

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It’s a risk-on view that dovetails with bullish calls emerging on Wall Street following the Fed’s half-point rate cut this month. China’s biggest stock rally since 2008 after Xi Jinping’s government ramped up economic stimulus also helped boost the bullish attitude.

“The biggest challenge that the US economy has been facing is actually high short-term interest rates,” said Yung-Yu Ma, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management. “We’d already been leaning into risk assets and leaning into US equity,” he said, and “if there were a pullback, we would consider even adding to that.”

The Fed slashed its benchmark rate from the highest level in two decades on Sept. 18, and the median official forecast projected an additional half-point of easing across the two remaining 2024 meetings, in November and December.