Phil Sheridan, Senior Vice President, Swaps & Derivatives, at Wintrust Financial Corporation, shares insights into key trends shaping the year ahead and strategies for positioning mid-market companies for success.

While 2024 was a solid year, there are reasons to be optimistic about the 2025 outlook based on the outlook for jobs, consumption, growth, inflation, and interest rates.

We are bullish on stocks with a 7000 target on the S&P 500 assuming an 18% effective corporate tax rate is enacted. We remain bullish on bonds despite the recent selloff of 10-yr Treasuries.

The economy performed well in 2024, but as we enter the new year there is a bit of uncertainty for 2025. Inflation, the labor market and politics will be closely watched in the next few months. Patrick Rehkamp,

Maeva, I wonder what could be the impact of Trump's tariffs on top of all of Europe's economic woes? So there are some big questions on how big those tariffs will be. We've had little clarity on that.