Last week, when all major stock market indices were up soundly -- the S&P had a 6.2% weekly gain -- was "nothing more than a vicious bear market rally," Morgan Stanley Chief Investment officer Mike Wilson told clients in a memo.

The United States economy is nearing the end of a "late-cylce expansion phase," said Wilson, who is also Morgan's chief U.S. equity strategist and chairman of the global investmetn committee, The New York Post reports.
 

"While it may not be completely finished, it is a rally to sell," Wilson said. "Bear market rallies are the most vicious.

Wilson is encouraging Morgan Stanley clients to take defensive positions in such stocks as those of utilities.