Over the years I’ve had some time for David Rosenberg but have also learned that he is sometimes too bearish. Not today:
No one really knows how far up the top is, but what happens after the top does not fit into very many people’s risk tolerance. In the meantime, another year of double-digit returns on the highest quality, long duration bonds is our expectation and the interest rate risk associated with them is entirely manageable from my perspective as a market economist.
While I cannot pick the date, I can tell you that this turbocharged debt cycle will end miserably, not unlike 2008 and 2001. Don’t try to time the inevitable mean-reversion trade. Just heed this first Bob Farrell rule of investing on ‘mean reversion’ and know that it’s out there. In nearly 11 years the S&P 500 has soared nearly fivefold to multiples (on earnings, sales and book value — take your pick) we have only seen twice in recent history.