JPMorgan’s Kolanovic set to depart after string of bad stock calls

Internal memo reveals planned leadership shakeup at the banking giant as its chief market strategist is "exploring other opportunities."

Marko Kolanovic, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief market strategist and co-head of global research, is leaving the bank, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg News.

Kolanovic, who has been at JPMorgan for 19 years, is “exploring other opportunities,” the memo stated. Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, the firm’s chief equity strategist, will become chief market strategist. Co-head of global research Hussein Malik will be the sole head of global research.

Stephen Dulake and Nicholas Rosato will co-lead fundamental research, a new team that brings together credit and equity research.

A JPMorgan spokesperson declined to comment. Kolanovic, Lakos-Bujas, Malik, Dulake and Rosato didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The move follows a disastrous two-year stretch of stock-market calls by Kolanovic. He was steadfastly bullish in much of 2022 as the S&P 500 Index sank 19% and strategists across Wall Street lowered their expectations for equities. He then turned bearish just as the market bottomed, missing last year’s 24% surge in the S&P 500 as well as the 14% gain in the first half of this year.

JPMorgan’s strategists, led by Kolanovic, have stood out among Wall Street’s megabanks in continuing to expect a selloff in US equities even as firms like Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. have steadily raised their outlooks. JPMorgan has the lowest price 2024 target for the S&P 500 among banks tracked by Bloomberg at 4,200. The benchmark is trading above 5,500.