Investors often get bullish on stocks when interest rates start inching lower. That certainly was the case as markets anticipated the start of the U.S. Federal Reserve's easing cycle, which kicked off with a jumbo cut last month . The S & P 500 stock index is around 24% higher year-to-date and up 40% over the last 12 months. There's a common belief that lower borrowing costs benefit so-called growth stocks, as they're often capital-intensive.
" Historic outperformance Vahan Janjigian, chief investment officer at Greenwich Wealth Management, has been favoring value stocks for a while now – and the majority of his portfolio is in value names. Value stocks have a history of outperforming growth stocks over the long term, he said, although he acknowledged this hasn't happened in the past 15 years or so due to the "unprecedented" zero-interest rate regime.