US stock gains seen limited in second half

Market strategists appear to be going against history and are calling for minimal gains for the US stock market in the second half of 2017.

Bloomberg reported that after a 8.2 percent rise in the S&P 500 in the first half of the year, strategists see the index rising by just 0.6 percent in the second half, the least bullish forecast for this time of year since 1999.

This is in contrast to the historical performance of the S&P 500. During the years when the S&P 500 went up between 7 percent and 12 percent in the January-June period, stocks went on to rise 87 percent of the time in the next six months, with increases averaging 5.1 percent.

The lack of optimism among strategists does not faze long-time bull Laszlo Birinyi, president of Birinyi Associates.

“New highs are generally greeted with a yawn,” Birinyi wrote to clients last week. “As the year proceeds, we are actually feeling better about the market.”