The 11-year bull run is over.
After a rebound on Tuesday based on hopes of government fiscal stimulus, US stock markets plunged again Wednesday and officially moved into bear territory.
After the worst Christmas Eve in the history of the stock market, the Santa Clause rally came late. Markets bounced back in the short trading week after Christmas. The Dow started with a 1,000-plus point gain, then dropped nearly 600 points the next day, before rallying late to close in the green.
The rally had some Wall Street pundits feeling giddy, but in an interview on RT America, Peter Schiff said the bubble has popped and this is exactly the kind of roller coaster ride you expect in a bear market.
The mainstream has finally uttered the B-word.
I mean bear. As in bear market.
DoubleLine Capital founder Jeffrey Gundlach sparked mainstream talk of bears on Monday when he asserted that we have indeed entered a bear market during an interview on CNBC.
US stock markets took another nosedive last week. Analysts blame the selloff on fears that the arrest of a Chinese businesswoman could derail apparent progress in resolving the trade war between the US and China. But during an interview on RT America, Peter Schiff said that while the arrest of Meng Wanzhou might have sparked the selloff, it wasn’t the underlying reason.
This is a bear market. That’s why the market went down. If it wasn’t that, they would have found another excuse. If we were in a bull market, I think the market would have shrugged it off. So, we’re going lower.”
Peter has been saying we’re in a bear market for weeks. Technically, the broader markets are not in bear territory. But when you look at individual stocks, the picture isn’t so bright. Nearly half of the stocks on the S&P 500 are, in fact, in a bear market.
Peter Schiff appeared on RT Boom Bust last week and reiterated he thinks we have entered a bear market. In fact, what we’re seeing now is a deflating bubble.
The Dow Jones fell 831 points Wednesday, a decline of more than 3%. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 charted its biggest daily decline since February and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.08 percent. This follows on the heels of a 200-point drop in the Dow last week after the 10-year US Treasury yield hit the highest level since 2011.
In a podcast last week, Peter Schiff said rising interest rates could serve as the pin that pricks the stock market bubble. In his most recent podcast, Peter said the stock market rout seems to confirm his feeling and warned a recession will follow.
The stock market continued its yo-yo ways on Friday. After three straight days of healthy gains, the Dow Jones Industrials fell 572 points to end the week, closing below 24,000. The Nasdaq also plunged, dropping 161 points.
Peter Schiff has been saying for weeks this is a bear market. Well, now even Pres. Trump has said investors may see some short-term pain in the stock market. But the president says it will all be worth it because we will get long-term gain, referring to the benefits we’ll reap when we win the trade war. In his most recent podcast, Peter said that’s not how it’s going to play out.
We’re going to have short-term pain and then the pain is going to get worse in the long-run.”
The big problem is, nobody is really ready for any pain at all.
After rallying on Friday, stocks tanked on Monday, dropping over 450 points. In fact, it was the worst first day of the second quarter since the Great Depression.
Most analysts blamed the plunge on the escalating trade war, but Peter Schiff has a different take. He said it was just another bad day in a bear market. In fact, he said the market could have rallied because the Chinese response wasn’t as bad as it could have been. But when you’re in a bear market, all news is bad news.
Stocks rebounded Monday after their precipitous fall late last week. The Dow Jones rose 669 points. Then on Tuesday, it tanked again, falling over 300 points.
In his latest podcast, Peter Schiff said the increase in stock market volatility is another sign things are different. He reiterated what he said last Friday. He thinks we are in a bear market. All of the flashing warning signs are there. It’s just that nobody can seem to see them.
Investor Jim Rogers has seen a lot in 75 years. So when he starts talking about the worst bear market in our lifetime, we probably ought to sit up and take notice.
And that’s exactly what Rogers said in a recent phone interview with Bloomberg.
When we have a bear market again, and we are going to have a bear market again, it will be the worst in our lifetime.”
