“Some clients, especially those who don’t like President Trump, are particularly negative, but obviously the market isn’t particularly negative right now,” Altfest said.
But Altfest added that the market's high valuations means it needs some pickup to keep things going. That pickup would be stronger earnings, a high level of consumer spending or possibly the passage of the much-anticipated Trump package of tax cuts. “We need actual deeds, not promises,” he said of the promised tax cuts.
In the meantime, Altfest said the bargains in equities are outside of the U.S.
Ogorek, mirroring a sentiment expressed in a recent report by BlackRock, believes that European and developing market equities are undervalued in historic terms.
Altfest noted that he is telling some clients to take some risk off the domestic table. “Europe,” he said, “has some momentum and the developing markets are cheap relative to the rest of the world.”
Wyatt partly agrees. She said there are good buys in Europe and Japan. However, she stressed that they should be bought through ADRs. This ensures these companies are meeting regulatory standards.
And for those who want to diversify away from what they perceive are overvalued stocks, Wyatt believes that many high-quality, AAA-rated municipal bonds of between three and seven years duration are “a great buy.”
She said, however, that these bonds should be bought through institutional channels.