Several Stock Market Warning Signs Giving Investors Cold Sweats. Billionaires quietly dumping American stocks.
Stocks are now outpacing inflation expectations at a rate that preceded that last two crashes.
'Expectations of price increases (inflation) are a sign of potentially stronger demand growth and higher margins, which is a positive for stocks.'
Source: @ParagonCap
Investors and traders are increasingly buying stocks with borrowed money.
Despite the 6.5% stock market rally over the last three months, a handful of billionaires are quietly dumping their American stocks . . . and fast.
Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.
In the latest filing for Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in “consumer product stocks” by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel.
With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome.
Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone.
Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of U.S. stocks too. During the second quarter of the year, Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase. The fund also dumped its entire position in discount retailer Family Dollar
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.moneynews.com/Outbrain/billionaires-dump-economist-stock/2012/08/29/id/450265?PROMO_CODE=FE8A-1#ixzz2UQpmFk5w
Warren Buffett, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. stocks for quite some time, is dumping shares at an alarming rate. He recently complained of “disappointing performance” in dyed-in-the-wool American companies like Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, and Kraft Foods.
In the latest filing for Buffett’s holding company Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett has been drastically reducing his exposure to stocks that depend on consumer purchasing habits. Berkshire sold roughly 19 million shares of Johnson & Johnson, and reduced his overall stake in “consumer product stocks” by 21%. Berkshire Hathaway also sold its entire stake in California-based computer parts supplier Intel.
With 70% of the U.S. economy dependent on consumer spending, Buffett’s apparent lack of faith in these companies’ future prospects is worrisome.
Unfortunately Buffett isn’t alone.
Fellow billionaire John Paulson, who made a fortune betting on the subprime mortgage meltdown, is clearing out of U.S. stocks too. During the second quarter of the year, Paulson’s hedge fund, Paulson & Co., dumped 14 million shares of JPMorgan Chase. The fund also dumped its entire position in discount retailer Family Dollar
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.moneynews.com/Outbrain/billionaires-dump-economist-stock/2012/08/29/id/450265?PROMO_CODE=FE8A-1#ixzz2UQpmFk5w
Source: Doug Short
Source: Credit Suisse via Sober Look
BONUS: The gold-silver ratio has dropped, which signals a risk-off trade is coming, says David Rosenberg.
'The gold-silver ratio has risen to its highest point in three years (August 2010) and in the past this served as a flash-point for a renewed risk-off trade. See the chart below and the divergence (S&P 500 surging and the gold-silver ratio sliding -- historically this has a 71% correlation, likely because silver has far more industrial applications and as such this ratio is viewed as somewhat of a global economic barometer.) I have to say that when I read the front page of the USA Today business section and see this lead title: With Stocks This Hot, Why Worry?, with famed strategist Ed Yardeni declaring this to be the 'mother of all melt-ups,' I do begin to worry. The bull market may well be in complacency.'
The venerable Jack Bogle has warned us a 25-50% downward move is almost certain.
'I went through one in 1973-1974, I went through one in 2001, 2002, 2003; I went through another one 2008-2009. They're kind of scary -- often terrifying -- but it's typical.'
Comments