July 9 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Asset Management

executives expect the U.S. economy to grow at a slower clip of

about 2% in the second half of 2024, they said on Tuesday, with

equity indexes seen largely flat due to declining earnings

growth and political anxieties.

"It's absolutely a soft landing," said Lindsay Rosner, head

of multi-sector investing at the asset management arm of Goldman

Sachs ( GS ). "As the data comes through, that's what we're

seeing."

Rosner and other GSAM executives discussed their outlook in

an online media gathering on Tuesday morning.

"There is a real probability" that investors will see

interest rate cuts in the United States in the second half of

2024, Rosner added. She does not expect the Federal Reserve to

begin cutting until September, but added that rate cuts could

continue at a pace of 25 basis points per quarter.

As interest rates fall, Rosner said she expected the fixed

income market to benefit. She said she saw particularly

interesting opportunities in the high yield bond market and in

structured credit.

For equity investors, the biggest characteristic of the U.S.

market has been that only five stocks and a single trend - AI -

have generated half of all stock market returns, said Alexis

Deladerriere, global equity portfolio manager and head of

developed markets at GSAM.

"We think you need to move away from the early winners" in

AI and diversify exposure to this trend, he said.

As earnings growth decelerates overall and political

anxieties mount both domestically and globally, Deladerriere

said he anticipates U.S. stocks will remain largely flat in the

second half of the year but that a broader array of companies

will outperform, including small caps.

Deladerriere added GSAM views Indian and Japanese equities

as particularly attractive at this point, as plays on trends

ranging from AI to addressing climate change.

(Reporting by Suzanne McGee; Editing by Emelia

Sithole-Matarise)