Investing

Josh Brown: Don't look for reasons to hate stocks, the market 'just swallowed' four Fed rate hikes

Key Points
  • Josh Brown urges investors to think bigger and broader about the stock market.
  • "This market just swallowed four rate hikes in a row. How much more can you throw at this market to have it demonstrate its resilience?" he said.
Tech stocks under pressure: how to play the dip
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Tech stocks under pressure: how to play the dip

The technology sector's recent slide is an easy excuse to be pessimistic about the stock market, but investors must think bigger and broader, money manager and popular blogger Josh Brown told CNBC on Thursday.

"This market just swallowed four rate hikes in a row. How much more can you throw at this market to have it demonstrate its resilience?" the CEO of Ritholtz Wealth Management said on "Halftime Report."

The four Federal Reserve interest rate increases Brown was referring to happened Wednesday, in March, in December 2016 and December 2015. The rate increase in December 2015 was the first in more than nine years.

The writer of the widely read blog The Reformed Broker spoke as stocks were lower Thursday as large-cap technology names faced renewed pressure. Wall Street also continued to digest the Fed's decision to hike rates and reports on an investigation that seeks to determine whether President Donald Trump attempted to obstruct justice.

Despite the news, Brown said it is important to remember the stock market rally that investors are witnessing arguably started back in July before Trump became president.

"That's before we knew about a lot of the policies that seems to just kind of be made up along the way — between then, the election and now, " he said. "I don't think a lot of what we've seen so far is based on economic policy. It's been much more of a media story than an investor story."

"Should you be cautious? Yes, of course, every day you should be cautious. But no more today or no less yesterday," he added.

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