- Kevin O'Leary has warned investors against trying to time the market.
- Those who wait until interest rates fall to buy stocks risk missing out on big gains, he said.
Investors should own stocks today instead of waiting to buy until interest rates fall, or they risk missing out on major gains, Kevin O'Leary says.
"I'm long equities and it was the right thing to do," he told Fox Business on Friday. "You cannot time the market. You need to be long on days like this and weeks like this where you get 10% of the return in 48 hours — we just saw it happen."
"This week was remarkable returns," O'Leary continued. "If you were not in the market, you left them behind. You can't make them up."
The S&P 500 climbed nearly 3% last week, boosting its total gains this year to 23%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high on Friday. Stocks jumped after the Federal Reserve signaled it might be done hiking interest rates to combat inflation, and penciled in three rate cuts in 2024.
O'Leary, a "Shark Tank" host and the chairman of O'Leary Funds, said investors no longer fear the Fed's benchmark rate will hit 6%, and they're betting Fed Chair Jerome Powell has skirted a recession against the odds.
"What the big market thinks globally is he has actually engineered a soft landing," O'Leary said. "That practically never happens."
O'Leary — whose nickname is "Mr. Wonderful" — compared the current moment in markets to the top of a rollercoaster, with investors waiting nervously for rates to plunge. He recommended being invested in stocks to avoid missing out on unpredictable gains of the kind seen last week.
While he noted there are still concerns facing markets, he predicted investors would ultimately shrug them off and drive asset prices higher.
"We're not out of the woods yet," he said. "We've got lots of issues to worry about, and I like a wall of worry, that helps."
Stocks have surged this year as excitement about the "Magnificent Seven" stocks and artificial intelligence has outweighed economic fears. Powell's comments last week have swung the market pendulum even further toward bullishness, as investors now see inflation fading and rates tumbling, boosting consumer spending, corporate earnings, asset prices, and economic growth.