Investors should resist the urge to bail on stocks through the summer, CIBC World Markets said Thursday, and look for buying opportunities if the market slips much further in the next two months.
"Riding out the bumps ... is a more realistic option, given the risks in trying to time the market too precisely when the economy is near a turning point," said chief economist Avery Shenfeld.
The S&P/TSX has drifted 8.5 per cent lower in the last month after a fierce spring rally, as doubts have set in about the pace of any recovery. Mr. Shenfeld said "even a hint of growth" could spark a quick rally that "would be easy to miss."
"More importantly, longer term valuation metrics still show ample headroom for equities, even if the first year of expansion proves to be as tepid as we suspect," he said.
"Excess cash holdings in the household sector, and central banks determined to add liquidity, augur for another leg to the equity rally to begin before year end."
Mr. Shenfeld maintained his year-end target for the index at 10,300, and remained underweight in consumer discretionary stocks and industrials while adding weight to telecom stocks.
"The only highly cyclical sector in which we have an overweight is base metals, where Asia's economic rebound, already well under way, should be a plus," he said.