BCA’s top strategist recommends closing bearish bet on US stocks after over 500% gain

Take a bow, Peter Berezin.

BCA Research’s chief global strategist and director of research was a relatively lonely bear heading into this year, with the lowest 2025 price target for the S&P 500 among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg: 4,450. The consensus price target was around 6,500.

He sent a note to clients shortly after 10 a.m. ET advising them to close his recommended put option bet on the SPDR S&P 500 Trust for a massive profit:

“As I mentioned last night, the market has gone a long way towards pricing our bearish view on stocks and the economy. With that in mind, we are closing our long SPY June 30, 2025 $550 put recommendation for a gain of 536%.”

It takes a lot of courage to have committed to a call like this. To paraphrase one of my mentors, Scott Barlow, bullish and wrong is forgivable on Wall Street, but bearish and wrong gets you fired.

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