Evercore ISI’s Julien Emmanuel said a week of “maximum uncertainty” should present important opportunities for investors. “We’re nearing a tipping point where we want to put capital here,” the company’s managing director said Monday on CNBC’s “Fast Money.” Emanuel pinpoints next Monday, April 6, when President Donald Trump lifts the moratorium on attacks on Iranian energy facilities, as a potential game-changer for energy prices and Wall Street. “The bullishness in stocks is based entirely on the decline in oil prices,” Emanuel said, adding that if prices continue at current levels for another 30 to 45 days, he believes it will cause lasting damage to the economy and markets. But that’s not his basic case. Market bulls plan to put more cash into stocks if the S&P 500 falls to 6,150, which would reflect an additional 3% loss from current levels. “It’s kind of irrational to say it’s not possible,” Emanuel said. “In our view, this is a buying opportunity.”This decline will put the S&P 500 firmly in correction territory. At the moment, the index is about 0.6% out of correction territory. ‘Tariff tantrum’ has similarities Mr Emanuel compared the current backdrop to last year’s ‘tariff tantrum’. He predicts that any policy breakthrough on Iran will provoke a strong backlash similar to President Trump’s “pivot to tariffs.” Last March, Mr. Emanuel also gave a deadline for “fast money” around the peak of uncertainty. In a note that week, he urged investors to resist tariff fears and accumulate stocks. By May, the S&P 500 had recouped its losses. Now, Mr. Emanuel is pouncing on a popular and struggling market group: the artificial intelligence industry. “They have a very visible revenue stream,” he said. “Of course, there are those concerns about AI and capital spending, but they mean that even if the economy slows, you can still make money at a very attractive price.” Emanuel, who expects the S&P 500 to return to record highs, points to an encouraging pattern in the chart. “Looking at the Nasdaq 100 as a whole, the index’s price-to-earnings ratio has remained relatively low compared to the S&P 500 at the time of the pandemic,” he said. “We think it’s time to step into large-cap technology,” said Emanuel, who has a year-end target for the S&P 500 of $7,750, up 22% from Monday’s close. Disclaimer
