The Russian stock market will rebound in 2022 after a November sell-off fueled by fears of new sanctions and COVID-19, but the expected removal of U.S. stimulus measures could cap profits, a Reuters poll of 12 market experts showed. The troubles in the stock market will continue in the second half of the year, but beleaguered investors will show signs of hope, experts told ABC News about their forecasts. The stock market experienced a historic decline in the first half of the year, and many of the same economic threats still looming as inflation continues to skyrocket and the Federal Reserve takes aggressive steps to tame price increases by raising funding costs. Russia – Equities The economy appears to have ended the year on a solid footing, demonstrating resilience to the negative effects of the Omicron wave. Eric DePoy, equity strategist at Gazprombank, said the Russian stock market is poised to bounce back over the next six months from the current recession. Looking at the stock market outlook for the next six months, Kronk thinks the S&P will likely rebound slightly and end 2022 at 4,200-4,400, or about 13.5-19% above Friday levels. We expect the yield curve1 to flatten further in the second half of 2022 as the Fed raises short-term rates and volatility remains high. Once reached, the pace of rate hikes is likely to slow as tightening financial conditions should lead to slower economic growth and lower inflation. We translate this as an upper bound for the federal funds rate target of 3% or more by the end of 2022. Returns for fixed income investors are expected to be higher in the second half of 2022-2022, now that interest rates have been pushed up. At the beginning of the year, we expect higher interest rates and greater volatility, which has been confirmed. However, markets are outperforming themselves with three rate hikes by the end of 2023, as evidenced in our view by the futures price pegged to the cost of overnight borrowing. It also means that market expectations for a US Federal Reserve (Fed) takeoff in 2022 are premature, with late 2023 or early 2024 a more likely time for the Fed’s first fund rate hike. Some market participants have suggested that the Fed’s decision to acknowledge rising inflation and implement its rate hike forecasts indicates that the Fed is already abandoning its new structure. We can see periods of market volatility as the markets challenge the Fed’s determination to stay on the trail of inflation. HSBC wealth management strategists believe we are now at the “peak pain” of inflation, but the data will not drop significantly until the end of 2022. Major indices are likely to end the year higher than they are. – Lower stock prices are beginning to promise low buying opportunities, which outweigh the risk of further declines, experts say. For her part, Ark Invest head Cathy Wood said she believes the stock market is nearing a low and tech stocks will be the first to recover.