Barton Biggs, who manages the New York hedge fund Traxis Partners, sees a big-time rally under way for stocks.

The former chief global strategist for Morgan Stanley told Bloomberg TV that the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index may soar 30 percent to 50 percent from its 12-year low of 676.53 reached March 9.

A 50 percent gain from that level would mean 1,014.80. The S&P 500 closed Wednesday at 813.88.

“We’re in the midst of a major rally, but to say we’re in a bull market is way premature,” Biggs says.

“I’m confident we’ll see a better tone for the economy by the end of the second quarter and into the rest of the year. The economy may still decline, but it won’t fall off a cliff like it has been doing.”

Biggs also views the Obama administration’s plan to help rid bank balance sheets of toxic assets as “an important first step in the right direction.”

Emerging markets will benefit from the fact that economic growth in them is stronger than in the United States and Europe, Biggs says. He also sees large technology stocks as a buy because they have fallen to such low levels.

However, financial shares aren’t so appealing thanks to the “tremendous volatility and uncertainty” in the financial sector.

Other experts are stock bulls too.

“Have we bottomed out?” asks James Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Wells Capital, in The New York Times. “I think so.”