For years, Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital Management, has predicted gains for stocks, and for years, he's been right.
But the 5 ½-year bull market is now running out of steam, he says, forecasting stocks will stay steady or slide next year.
Both the S&P 500 index and Dow Jones Industrial Average hit record highs Friday.
"There's some really strong Wall Street consensus themes right now,"
Paulsen tells CNBC, and he sees holes in all of them.
"One of them is 'the U.S. is the place to be.' Another one is 'the dollar is only going to go up.' The third one is 'rates can stay lower for longer,'" he notes. "I think 2015 might resolve in disappointing every one of those themes. I would tilt against them in portfolios."
Paulsen adds, "The whole foundation of this bull market we've been in since 2009 has been climbing a chronic wall of worry. That's been the primary catalyst for this run. That, to me, is over."
While he doesn't have an official year-end target for next year, "I think it's flattish. It could certainly end down."
He acknowledges the U.S. economy is gaining momentum, as demonstrated by Friday's strong jobs report. But, "the stock market reflects a lot of that already. I think there's got [to be] better bets in 2015 . . . in markets that have underperformed the U.S. the last couple of years."
Many investors remain bullish in the wake of Friday's news that payrolls soared 321,000 in November, an almost-three-year high.
"Long-term there's a lot of good news out there," Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners, tells
Bloomberg. "We had a report with non-farm payrolls showing the economy continues to move forward, and the stores remain pretty well-packed with shoppers."
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