US Economy That Won’t Quit Mints Hardcore Bulls

For Wall Street skeptics and diehard members of Team Recession, there’s always some evidence to support their grim prognostications. And while they’ve been proven wrong time and again by an effervescent US economy, right now equity valuations are indeed stretched, corporate bond spreads are tightening and gold is at a record. As a result, there’s been a rush of late to options and other instruments designed to protect gains. But alongside this burst of prudence is a vocal subset of managers who take their cues from two years of relatively good news when it comes to markets, unemployment and dissipating inflation. They say there’s reason to believe it’s still early in the bull run for risky assets. One of them is Nancy Tengler, who helps oversee $1.4 billion for Laffer Tengler Investments in Scottsdale, Arizona. Convinced corporate earnings growth is greater than it seems thanks to a steep falloff in inflation that’s bolstering consumers, she’s pushing clients out of Treasuries and into a broader list of bets on municipal bonds, electrical equipment makers and utilities. “The growth is there and it’s still driven by the consumer,” she said. “Earnings season will be pretty robust. We will see more surprises to the upside than to the downside. We are very bullish.” Cigna is said to have revived efforts to combine with its smaller rival Humana after merger talks fell apart late last year. The two health insurance giants have held informal discussions recently about a potential deal, though Cigna is said to be looking to close the sale of its Medicare Advantage business before committing to any other transactions. Cigna and Humana held talks to combine in 2023, but Cigna walked away after failing to agree on a price, Bloomberg News reported in December. Shares of Humana were up 4.3% after the close of regular trading Friday, while Cigna fell about 3.4%. In the broader market, Wall Street traders handed up their verdict on a week filled with corporate results and more signs the US economy continues to fire on all cylinders, driving stocks to their longest weekly advance in 2024. Here’s your markets wrap.