Acampora: Be aggressive
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January 8, 1999: 8:31 a.m. ET
Influential bull reaffirms his optimistic outlook for U.S. stocks in 1999
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In dramatic juxtaposition to moves by another influential market guru, Prudential Securities' Ralph Acampora Friday advised investors to stay aggressive in stocks, saying that the market is riding a once-in-a-lifetime bull trend.
"I'd be 100 percent fully invested in equities," the chief technical analyst for Prudential said in an interview on CNNfn's "Business Day." "I would be buying banks today. I would be buying computer stocks. I would be buying low depressed Dow stocks like Boeing (BA) and Sears (S), 3M (MMM) and DuPont (DD). There are an awful lot of names."
Acampora's comments came one day after another market guru, Abby Joseph Cohen of Goldman Sachs, cut her recommended stock position.
"Abby's done a great job," Acampora said. "I think she's fine-tuning it a little bit."
Acampora reiterated his conviction that the Dow Jones industrials could hit 11,500 during the upcoming year before slipping back to slightly under 10,000 by the end of 1999.
Not only will 1999 be the third year of President Clinton's term in office -- historically the best year in the presidential cycle for stocks -- but Acampora said that the market has already factored in a lot of the gloom that now hovers over traders.
"We had a bear market last year and that discounted a lot of the negatives people are talking about," he said. "Would you be surprised if Brazil devalued? I wouldn't be surprised. Would you be surprised if there were a problem with Russia? I wouldn't be surprised."
Acampora noted that "the bull market is only 3 months old. . . . We're in the early stages of something that's going to last a long, long time."
Although he anticipated some concern over the Year 2000 computer problem, Acampora also said he still stands by the technology sector -- particularly the big-cap industry leaders -- as the primary engine of the renewed bull market.
"The IBMs (IBM), the Microsofts (MSFT), the Compaqs (CPQ), the Intels (INTC). Go for it," he said. "This market is just bubbling up from underneath. I'm not saying sell your house
but be aggressive."
However, despite his apparently insatiable zest for buying, Acampora discounted the recent Internet sector run-up.
"That's one sector in the market that I would really worry (about)," he said, referring to recent explosive gains in such stocks as Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY). "I think that's just a short-term phenomenon in that sector."
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