BoA Expects Global Equity Prices to Rise 15%+ in 2011

Although Bank of America Merrill Lynch forecasts modest global growth in 2011, it does predict that stock prices around the world will rise by more than 15% and that the S&P 500 will rise by 9%.

The bank also expects global GDP to rise by 4.9% and U.S. GDP to grow by 2.8% in the coming year. Leading the expansion will be the U.S. and emerging markets economies, with the GDP of emerging markets rising by 6.4% and accounting for more than three-quarters of global GDP growth, BoA Merrill Lynch said.

In addition, BoA Merrill Lynch expects another good year for commodities, the U.S. dollar to rise and fixed income to deliver modest returns.

“The world is still healing from the wounds of the economic crisis, so we believe the U.S. economy will middle through in 2011 and global economic growth will slow modestly compared to 2010,” said Ethan Harris, head of developed markets economics at BoA Merrill Lynch.

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