Hennessy Founder Says Bull Market Won’t End Soon

(Bloomberg) -- Fund manager Neil Hennessy says he sees “no end” in sight to the U.S. bull market, telling a conference on Wednesday the market is in great shape, despite “noise” over impeachment hearings, trade war fears and geopolitical tensions.

The founder of Hennessy Funds, which has $5 billion in assets under management, also said the kind of euphoria that precedes a bear market is missing.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average hit new all-time highs on Tuesday, but both remain up less than 6% from 2018 highs. Likewise, the U.S. economy is also growing at a rate of roughly 2%.

“It would scare me if we were at 4 or 5%, but 2% is good growth,” Hennessy said at the fund’s annual press luncheon.

Dubbing himself an “economic realist,” Hennessy said he is focused on balance sheets, which show “plenty of cash sitting on the sidelines” including $3.5 trillion held in money market funds. He also said another $5 trillion in cash and marketable securities held by S&P 500 companies could be deployed for stock buybacks and higher dividends.

Hennessy referenced historical signs of investor euphoria -- such as the internet rally before the dot-com crash or the housing boom before the 2007 financial crisis -- saying similar signals aren’t apparent.

“People ask me, ‘Where’s the market going to go if [the Dow] hits 30,000?’” Hennessy said. “It’ll hit 35,000.”

“History tends to repeat itself, but we don’t have euphoria in the stock market right now,” he said. “The reality is: the fundamentals are so strong, you can’t stop it.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Anisha Sircar in New York at asircar@bloomberg.net;Jarrell Dillard in New York at jdillard11@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brad Olesen at bolesen3@bloomberg.net, Jennifer Bissell-Linsk, Jim Silver

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