LPL Research Outlook 2022: Passing the Baton is designed to help you navigate the risks and opportunities over the rest of 2021 and beyond. While the economy continues to move forward, we’re still feeling some aftershocks of COVID-19 and the Delta variant. At the same time, 2021also saw a resurgence of activities we missed in 2020, and the S&P 500 Index continued to advance as corporate America faced these challenges with resiliency.
With the U.S. economy reopened, the growth rate may peak in the second quarter of 2021, but there is still plenty of momentum left to extend above-average growth into 2022. Inflation must be closely watched, but LPL Research believes recent price pressures are transitory, and that the strong economic recovery may continue to drive strong earnings growth and support further gains for stocks in the second half of 2021. The strong economic recovery and potentially higher inflation expectations may help push interest rates higher and lead to flat or potentially negative core bond returns in the second half.
We’ve had a hand up that has helped us through a period of unique economic challenges. In 2022, the economy may be ready for a handoff, back to a greater emphasis on the individual choices of households and businesses. How smoothly that handoff is executed may determine the course of the recovery. LPL Research’s Outlook 2022 is here to provide insight on the economy, stocks, and bonds and what may lie ahead for next year and beyond.
