SARA SILVERSTEIN: And during our live event last month, you weren't ready to call this a bull market. It sounds like everything is dependent on earnings growth, outperforming. What does it take or where does that have to land in order for us to be in a bull market in your opinion?
CHRIS VERSACE: So in order for the market to drive-- and we won't say higher. We'll say demonstratively higher. We're going to need to see that earnings growth rate north of 7%-- again, for the S&P 500, second half of the year to the first half and/or confidence that the market can really deliver on a 10%-plus EPS growth number in 2024.
And I think-- my suspicion is, Sara, that we'll get our guidance as earnings season comes on. We're going to get, like I said, a lot of data, we'll have conferences in early September. As we move from August to September, we'll have a much better sense as to how likely those prospects-- excuse me-- really are. So for now, not yet, but I would say that we're probably closer than we perhaps ever been.
SARA SILVERSTEIN: And where do you-- I mean, I know that that will inform a lot of our decisions, but where do you think earnings will come in? And further, where do you think the S&P is going to end at the end of this year just based on what we know now?
CHRIS VERSACE: Oh, OK, so let's unpack the crystal ball, shall we? So--
SARA SILVERSTEIN: Yes.
CHRIS VERSACE: I think it's-- two things. I suspect that the earnings growth will probably come in a little less than that 7%, at least based on what we've seen thus far. There are some other things that could allow for the strength to emerge as we go through the back half of the year. The dollar, for example, or the economy picking up even more steam than is currently expected, so we'll have to watch on that.
But based on what we're seeing right now, that 7% just might be a little bit of a stretch. In terms of the S&P 500, could we end up a little higher than where we are now? Possibly, but I wouldn't be surprised, Sara, again, based on where we are today, if we've seen the best of the move so far this year.
But remember, though, the opportunity for us inside the portfolio is not necessarily the S&P 500 because we don't buy the market. We're buying individual stocks that are designed, we believe, to outperform the market, not over the short-term-- one month, six weeks, something like that, but over the medium to longer-term. And I think we've got a great array of prospects in the portfolio to do just that.