Stock-market guru Jeremy Siegel, professor of finance at the University of Pennsylvania, continues to be bullish about the stock market’s future, despite a quarterly slump that wiped almost $11 trillion off the value of global shares.
Despite all the market volatility and rate-hike uncertainty, the Wharton School finance professor
told CNBC that the Dow Jones Industrial average will hit 20,000 next year.
"I definitely think we will see Dow 20,000 in 2016," he said. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 47 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 16,049 Tuesday. It plunged 312 points the day before.
Mixed messages on Federal Reserve rate policy combined with worries of a China slowdown have put the benchmark on track for its worst quarter since 2011 while creating the most turbulent period for stocks in years, Bloomberg reported.
Siegel said he views stocks re-testing August lows as a signal that Janet Yellen should have raised rates in September. "The uncertainty of a hike is really what's bothering markets," he said. "Investors wanted the rate hike to be over with."
He expects the Federal Reserve to raise rates in either October or December.
Siegel sees bright spots in the market once investors stop being scared of the Fed raising interest rates. "Dividend-paying and value stocks will be good performers in the next three to six months," Siegel noted.