One of the biggest bears in this bull market is leaving JPMorgan

A top strategist at JPMorgan who was caught offside by the stock market rally is quitting the investment firm. Marko Kolanovic, who served as chief global markets strategist and co-head of global research, is leaving the bank to explore other opportunities, according to a source familiar with the internal announcement. In his place, Hussein Malik will become the sole head of global research, and Dubravko Lakos-Bujas will serve as chief markets strategist. Kolanovic rose to prominence among market watchers for correctly predicting a stock market rebound in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. But he has been consistently bearish over the past two years as the market has reached new highs. JPMorgan’s current year-end prediction for the S&P 500 is 4,200, while no other major firm in the CNBC Market Strategist Survey is below 5,200. JPMorgan’s prediction is officially credited to Lakos-Bujas, who worked under Kolanovic. The S&P 500 is up more than 15% this year and closed above 5,500 on Tuesday. News of Kolanovic’s departure was first reported by Bloomberg News.