Megan Horneman Quoted in Money.com

S&P 500 Hitting 7,000 This Year?

Verdence Chief Investment Officer, Megan Horneman quoted on Money.com about the S&P 500 hitting 7000 this year:

“I think it’s going to be tough to close the year at 7,000 or above,” says Megan Horneman, chief investment officer of Verdence Capital Advisors. “I think that’s a big lift.”

She notes that the market today reflects expectations of optimism that might not come to pass, particularly on the inflation front. “Our view is that earnings mostly will come down a bit,” she says, in part because the inflationary effects of tariffs aren’t yet being reflected in Wall Street’s forward-looking optimism.

“I’m more scared of inflation, and we haven’t gotten where we need to be,” she points out. “Inflation has been moving in the wrong direction.” Without a reversal, the rate cuts on which many investors have pinned their hopes — and their positions — won’t happen.

“The Federal Reserve was pretty clear” that its rate-setting trajectory depends on inflation falling. “I just don’t see us as out of the woods,” Horneman says. “Ultimately, inflation will come back to haunt earnings,” she predicts.