Analyst: This is the bright spot for US markets

Investors are hoping for a better outcome in U.S. markets on the first trading day of February after back-to-back down months.

Markets got a glimpse of consumer strength in last week’s disappointing report on fourth quarter economic growth, strategist Bill Stone told CNBC on Monday.

“Buried underneath there was the bright spot. It was actually [the] consumer. If you only had the consumer last quarter, you would have actually had a growth rate and GDP higher than what we showed. So everything else net took away from GDP,” PNC Asset Management Group’s chief investment strategist said in a “Squawk Box” interview.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow Jones Global Indexes: .DJI), S&P 500 (CME:Index and Options Market: .INX), and Nasdaq (^IXIC) fell for two consecutive months. The S&P financials (CME:Chicago Mercantile Exchange: .SPSY) surpassed energy (CME:Chicago Mercantile Exchange: .SPNY) as the worst performing sector in January.