There’s nothing like being live from the New York Stock Exchange trading floor!

 

Lizzie joined Mike Santoli on CNBC leading up to the closing bell to discuss the current market and the positive setup for 2026 to move higher.

And what a great way to end the interview, the iconic closing bell ringing as Wall Street traders celebrated the end of another market day.

 

▶️ Watch the full replay of Lizzie’s live interview on CNBC here or below!

 

Transcript:

Elizabeth. What’s your playbook, broadly speaking, going into this year?

We’ve had three very strong years for the S&P 500. A lot of concerns about the index concentration, maybe what the Fed might do. So, how do you describe the setup for clients at this point?

 

Yeah, I think 2025 delivered a soft landing. So, the setup going into 2026 is very positive. We had solid growth. We have unemployment at 4.4%. Earnings hung in there last year. So, going the, you know, the consensus is that we’ll see mid 7,000—7,500, 7,600. So, mega-cap tech has to continue to deliver. They make up such a big part of the market cap. But I do think we’ll start to see a slow broadening out across other sectors.

So, when you say, “mega-cap tech has to deliver,” that’s for sure, I guess, if we’re going to get to those index targets, is that how you would advise clients to still position? Or do you feel as if they should be ahead of, you know, the broadening action which we’ve really seen over the last couple of months starting?

Well, you have to have mega-cap tech at 35% of the market cap, and I think contributing 48% of earnings growth. But I do think you can be selective in other sectors of the market. We think financials look very interesting. Defense has done well. I think it will continue to do well. So, I do think that this will be a stock pickers market.

 

Okay. And, you know, when it comes to the Fed as a swing factor, it feels like there’s not a ton of suspense very soon in terms of what they’re going to do. And the bond market has been very calm about things.

So, how would you approach the bond market in that context?

Yeah, I think you always have to watch the bond market closely.

So, so far there’s no flashing red. But, you know, right now the market’s really pricing in the likelihood that we don’t see a rate cut until we have the new Fed chair in place. If we see 2 25 basis-point cuts this year, we will be close to that 3% rate, which many believe to be really the neutral rate. So, all of that, again, bodes well for equities to continue to move higher.

 

We keep pointing to some of the excitable parts of this market. You know, options trading is surging. Silver has gone wild. Unprofitable tech.

Do you feel that in terms of people’s instinct to just speculate a little bit more or what does that mean for the markets, do you think?

That’s a great question. I don’t think, we’re not in a market of exuberance or really speculation. I think what I hear from clients every day is, gosh, we’ve had three years of double-digit returns. When’s it going to end? So, you look at equity inflows last year they were 0.2% of the market cap of the S&P. So, they’ve been relatively subdued.

So, we’re not there yet. All right that’s reassuring. Very good to talk to you Elizabeth. Appreciate it.