After 20 years as chief investment strategist at Raymond James, Jeff Saut is retiring at 69 at the end of the week. Over the last decade, Saut has maintained a high-profile as one of the current bull market’s biggest believers.
Like Liz Ann Sonders at Charles Schwab and Richard F. Bernstein at his eponymous boutique firm, Saut recognized shortly after the financial crisis that the sell-off in equities in 2008 and early 2009 represented one of the best buying opportunities of most Americans’ lifetime. Saut has said repeatedly that the current bull market would last 15 to 17 years and take the S&P 500 to 5,400 by 2025, or nearly double its current level.
In his daily briefings, Saut managed to combine short-term technical analysis with a long-term, big picture perspective. Over the last decade, he would sometimes call for a short-term pullback, but he never strayed from his stance U.S. equities were enjoying a secular bull market. His colorful commentary, coupled with sober optimism, made him a popular TV commentator and won him a following well beyond Raymond James.
Raymond James did not name a successor to Saut in its prepared statement. The firm did say that it continues to retain a strong investment strategy team led by chief investment officer Larry Adam, who was formerly Deutsche Bank’s chief investment officer.
In some of his commentaries, Saut said he intends to thoroughly “participate” in the current bull market. Now he presumably will have more time to enjoy it.
This article provided by Bloomberg News.