Tom Lee, widely followed stock market strategist and head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said Monday’s sell-off on President Donald Trump’s tariffs was a buying opportunity for stocks, but not so much for cryptocurrencies yet. “I think for the full year, S & P is going to be higher, even by mid-year, much much higher,” said Lee on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday morning. “January already proved to be a positive month for the market when it faced all these headwinds so I think this one is another headwind, but another reason to be looking to buy the dip.” Stock futures were indicating about a 600-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average Monday and the S & P 500 was set to shed about 1.5%. @SP.1 1D mountain S & P 500 futures But Lee was encouraged that the reaction wasn’t more severe after Trump issued a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada and a 10% duty on China over the weekend. That equity futures markets were only down about 1.5% “on pretty major universal tariffs is actually a sign of resilience,” said Lee. As for the fundamental reason why it would be a good time to buy the market, Lee reasoned the U.S. was using tariffs for a negotiating tool to strengthen America’s competitive position and that the targeted countries would come to the bargaining table. “There’s decent odds that let’s say we go three months out that the tariffs will be rolled back because concessions were received,” said the strategist. (Click here to view Tom Lee’s exclusive 2025 market outlook for CNBC PRO.) Near-term bitcoin pain Bitcoin tumbled to around the $95,000 level Monday from above $102,000 before the weekend as investors sold cryptocurrencies to raise cash amid the global equity rout. “Bitcoin I think still is going to be one of the best performing asset classes this year,” said Lee. “But I think that there is still an argument that in the short term bitcoin is a risk-on asset so as the market liquidates, which happened over the weekend, bitcoin takes a hit so I’d say February is not looking great for bitcoin in the near term ” BTC.CM= 3M mountain Bitcoin, 3 months When asked if the levels here around $95,000 were the low, Lee said that the cryptocurrency could ultimately trade down to $70,000 before rebounding. Current levels are “probably not the floor for this month so it could visit much lower levels, even 70, but of course that’ll end up being a buying opportunity,” said Lee.
