Investors are hoping that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in 2025, but Josh Brown of Ritholtz Wealth Management says that a cut shouldn’t be on Wall Street’s radar. “A rate cut doesn’t matter,” the firm’s CEO said on CNBC’s ” Halftime Report ” on Thursday. “Nobody should be baking in any specific number of rate cuts as a means to say stocks, therefore, are 8% to 10% undervalued. That should not be the bull case – that we’re going to get accommodative policy because the employment situation is going to start to suck. The logic is completely backwards.” Minutes from the Fed’s June meeting released Wednesday revealed that most central bank officials believe “some reduction” in its target range of 4.25%-4.5% this year “would likely be appropriate.” However, they differed on the exact number of cuts. Fed funds futures trading is currently forecasting two quarter-percentage-point cuts this year, with a more than 70% chance of the first cut coming at the end of the Fed’s September meeting, according to CME Group’s FedWatch tool . “Rates are probably too high,” Brown added. “Are they 200 basis points over where they should be? No, I don’t think anybody would say that. And you didn’t need rate cuts this entire rally, so what are you begging for a Sudafed for. I don’t understand it.” The Street should instead be paying attention to capital expenditures, which Brown noted is what’s driving earnings growth and the recent momentum in the “Magnificent Seven” names like Nvidia . The chipmaker recently became the first company to hit $4 trillion in market cap . Its shares have soared more than 52% in the last three months, propelled by the artificial intelligence boom. AMZN 3M mountain AMZN, 3-month Among the megacap tech stocks, Amazon – which has risen almost 23% over the past three months – might actually be undervalued when thinking about its performance in five- to 10-year increments, Brown said. It’s “not getting enough credit for how important AWS is going to be for the remainder of the AI decade,” he said. DISCLOSURES: All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC UNIVERSAL, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL’S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. INVESTING INVOLVES RISK. EXAMPLES OF ANALYSIS CONTAINED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE ONLY EXAMPLES. THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE CONTRIBUTORS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE OFFICIAL POLICY OR POSITION OF RITHOLTZ WEALTH MANAGEMENT, LLC. JOSH BROWN IS THE CEO OF RITHOLTZ WEALTH MANAGEMENT AND MAY MAINTAIN A SECURITY POSITION IN THE SECURITIES DISCUSSED. ASSUMPTIONS MADE WITHIN THE ANALYSIS ARE NOT REFLECTIVE OF THE POSITION OF RITHOLTZ WEALTH MANAGEMENT, LLC” TO THE END OF OR OUR DISCLOSURE. Click here for the full disclaimer.
