Pro: This Is Why Stocks Are Stuck In A 'Bull Market Purgatory'

There are many ways to describe the state of the equity market, but Jurrien Timmer of Fidelity Investments has a unique answer: "bull market purgatory."

Speaking as a guest during CNBC's "Squawk Box" segment, the investment manager said that the market is stuck in this "bull market purgatory" because it is "not firing on all cylinders" with no earnings growth.

Timmer continued and said that if the markets want to break out it either needs earnings or a P/E boost — and the P/E boost could come from a "sentiment push," which he "doesn't see happening."

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"We just don't have the ingredients right now and I think to get a sustainable breakout to new highs I think we need to see some pickup in earnings growth," he said. "We are seeing some tiny little snippets of this but it is very very small."

He suggested that the S&P 500 index could rise to the 2,200 level from its current 2,115 level in "no time" if earnings grew at just 2 percent, but "so far it is not happening."