[Wall Street strategists expect that the Fed’s interest rate hikes will be difficult to prevent U.S. stocks from continuing to strengthen] September 14th, Wall Street’s top strategists are once again optimistic about U.S. stocks, believing that stronger economic growth and solid corporate profits will enable the market to withstand the pressure of rising interest rates. Bank strategists including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs said any decline in stocks triggered by an expected Federal Reserve interest rate hike would likely be short-lived given that corporate earnings remain strong. Analysis shows that the real threat to a bull market is usually a complete cycle of rate hikes, not a single rate hike. Since 1945, the S&P 500 has experienced 12 bear markets with declines of at least 20%, and four other close bear markets, with losses ranging from 18% to 20%. Six of these had previously experienced interest rate hike cycles that ultimately led to economic recession; only two major retracements had neither experienced an interest rate hike cycle nor an economic recession before.