Real Bull Market or Just a Bear Rally? Depends Whom You Ask

Now that the stock market technically has crossed into bull territory, achieving a 20% gain last week from its Oct. 12 low, experts disagree on whether equities have hit a true bull market.

Even strategists at major investment firms have opposing takes, with Goldman Sachs expecting the rally to broaden and Morgan Stanley warning the bear market really isn’t over.

The stock market Rorschach test played out Friday on CNBC’s “Halftime Report,” where other investment strategists gave differing answers to host Scott Wapner’s question on whether the exit, technically, from the longest bear market since 1948 really constituted a bull market.

Joe Terranova, chief market strategist at Virtus Investment Partners, appeared to land on the no side, suggesting the market entered bull territory technically but not fundamentally. The bond market wasn’t confirming a bull market, he said.

“There’s this divergence from what we’re seeing reflected in the equity market and what we’re seeing in the bond market,” where yields are up, Terranova said. “We’re void of significant growth, that’s for sure; we’re still in an earnings recession.”

He called the rally concentrated in tech stocks, and the gain “a nice milestone. That’s all it is.”

Stephanie Link, chief investment strategist at Hightower Advisors, answered the bull market question with a “maybe.”

Parts of the markets, such a tech, communication services and discretionary, “are in a bull market,” she said, adding that tech and communication services account for 35% of the S&P 500.

“The rest of the market is struggling,” said Link. “Because the economy is actually doing a little bit better, I think eventually we are going to see a broadening out and the laggards will catch up.”