The last time BofA's resident contrarian issued a counter-trend call - one which also countered his own bearish nature - was in October 2023, when the prevailing market mood was very downbeat following four months of straight selling and when the S&P had just hit a 6 month low. That's when Michael Hartnett, or as we called him at the time Wall Street's biggest bear, turned bullish and said that "A buy signal was just triggered" (as we duly noted on October 22, 2023).

Whether good or just lucky, that call literally bottom-ticked the market for the past 14 months.