Thomas Lee, chief U.S. equity strategist at JPMorgan Chase, and David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist at Gluskin Sheff & Associates, went head-to-head recently on Bloomberg in discussing their differing opinions on where the stock market is headed. Lee is more bullish than Rosenberg, saying that history has shown that when the equity risk premium is high — which it is right now — stocks still tend to do well even if the economy isn’t great. Rosenberg isn’t as optimistic on the economy and broader market, saying that economic data has not been as good as many believe it has been lately, in part because seasonal factors have made some numbers look better than they are in reality. But he’s not exactly a huge bear either. He’s not saying investors should dump stocks; instead, he says they should be invested in more defensive areas of the market, like high-quality stocks and those that are paying high or increasing dividends.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2t_PXV0iqM]