This week, I speak with Richard Bernstein, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Richard Bernstein Advisors, which manages or advises on $15.7B in AUM focusing on Macro trends rather than individual stock selection. Rich has over 35 years′ experience on Wall Street, was slected for Institutional Investor’s “All-America Research Team” 18times, and was inducted into the Institutional Investor “Hall of Fame.” Previously, he was the Chief Investment Strategist at Merrill Lynch.

He explains why he always expects the S&P500 to be “+10%” regardless of how bearish the macro elements are.

He also discussed why he left Merrill Lynch in 2009 when he flipped bullish. Short version: The sales force, with the GFC still fresh in the minds, were unmoveably bearish.

A transcript of our conversation is available here Tuesday.

You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Neil Dutta, head of the economic research team at Renaissance Macro Research. Previously, he was Senior Economist NA at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch under Ethan Harris and David Rosenberg. He has a history of making successful contrarian calls, including calling for no recession in 2022, and warning that the FOMC would raise rates aggressively in 2022. He is now expecting a mild recession late 2025/26.