Tom Lee Predicts 2027 Will Be One Of Stock Market's ‘Best Years’ As SpaceX, Fed Risks Fade

• BMNR chairman Tom Lee told CNBC that last week's liquidation of the Situational Awareness hedge fund was a market "clearing event" that removed a major forced seller.
• He added that moderating inflation could reduce expectations for further Federal Reserve rate hikes over the coming months.
• According to him, 2027 could be one of the strongest years for the U.S. stock market.

The stock market could be headed for one of its strongest years in 2027, according to Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) chairman and Fundstrat founder Tom Lee, with the market having moved beyond the SpaceX (SPCX) unlock and the transition to a new Federal Reserve chairman, removing two major sources of uncertainty.

"2027 will be one of the best years for the stock market," Lee told CNBC. "The SpaceX unlock will be behind us, and the market testing of the new Fed will be behind us."

SPCX stock fell as much as 1% in pre-market trade, despite the broader market trading higher. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the Elon Musk-led company improved to ‘bullish’ from ‘neutral’ territory over the past day. It was also among the top-trending tickers on the platform, with data showing a message volume bump of 32% in the last 24 hours. 

The firm is slated to report its first quarterly report this week on Tuesday after its public market debut in June. Retail traders on Stocktwits questioned whether the upcoming share lock-up expiration would pressure the stock price lower.

Hedge Fund Liquidation Marked A 'Clearing Event’

Lee stated that last week's liquidation of Situational Awareness, the AI-focused hedge fund run by Leopold Aschenbrenner, marked a “clearing event” for the market. The fund was reportedly forced to unwind much of its public equity portfolio after losses in AI infrastructure holdings triggered margin calls, leading to the sale of most of its positions to Citadel.

On monetary policy, Lee said he expects markets to become more comfortable with the new Federal Reserve leadership if inflation continues to moderate over the next two CPI reports. "If July's CPI looks like June, and August is also muted, I think the bond market won't be pricing in hikes," he said.

Tom Lee Sticks With His S&P 500 Finishing Above 8,000 Call

Lee also reiterated his near-term bullish view, forecasting the S&P 500 would rebound to around 7,800 before experiencing a roughly 10% pullback, then finish the year above 8,000.

S&P futures edged 0.5% higher in pre-market trade on Monday, trading at around 7,500. Lee’s forecast implies an upside of around 6% by year-end. Nasdaq futures also moved higher by around 0.36%, and Dow futures rose 0.7%.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was up 0.053%, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) gained 0.83%, and the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) moved 0.43% higher. Retail sentiment around QQQ on Stocktwits remained in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day.

Crypto Still Signals Risk Appetite

Lee also pointed to crypto as another constructive signal for risk assets, noting that Ethereum (ETH) outperformed the Nasdaq by roughly 2,500 basis points in July. "The last time that happened, it marked the start of a big crypto up move," Lee stated.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $63,000 on Monday morning, but outpaced Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP (XRP), and Solana (SOL). The overall cryptocurrency market edged 0.8% lower in the last 24 hours, with CoinGlass data showing around $150 million in crypto liquidations. 

Read also: CRCL Leads Crypto Stocks Lower After Morgan Stanley Downgrade Adds To Bitcoin, CLARITY Act Pressure