Where the Strategists Stand

How much equity exposure should you have in a volatile market like this? Wall Street’s leading strategists vary widely in their asset allocations, based on a survey of 16 brokerages taken Tuesday. The DLJ and BancAmerica strategists raised their recommended equity exposure this week in the wake of Nasdaq’s recent rout. Model allocations, listed in order of bullishness:

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Recommended weighting: Firm Strategist Stocks Bonds Cash DLJ Thomas Galvin 90% 0% 10% BancAmerica Thomas McManus 80 20 0 Lehman Bros. Jeffrey Applegate 80 0 20 Prudential* Greg Smith 75 5 15 Morgan Stanley Peter Canelo 75 15 10 First Union Rao Chalasani 65 30 5 Goldman Sachs* Abby Joseph Cohen 65 27 5 Bear Stearns Liz Mackay 60 35 5 Salomon Smith Barney Committee 60 35 5 A.G. Edwards Mark Keller 55 35 10 CSFB Christine Callies 55 30 15 PaineWebber Ed Kerschner 54 27 19 CIBC* Subodh Kumar 52 35 8 Merrill Lynch* David Bowers 50 30 15 J.P. Morgan Douglas Cliggott 50 25 25 Warburg Dillon Read Gail Dudack 45 30 25 Averages** 63 24 12

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*CIBC and Prudential recommend placing 5% in real estate investments. Goldman Sachs suggests placing 3% in commodities. Merrill Lynch suggests putting 5% in commodities.

**Numbers rounded

Source: Bloomberg News