The Stock Market May Not Recover for a Generation

In this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, Dan welcomes Dave Collum back to the show. He's the Betty R. Miller Professor of Chemistry at Cornell University. He's outspoken about many topics and issues ranging from finance to politics and everything in between. And he brings this same no-holds-barred attitude to today's podcast.

 

Dave kicks things off by discussing the "everything bubble," or as he prefers to call it, the "complacency bubble." According to him, previous market bubbles had logic behind their euphoria, but he says the current one does not follow logic because the companies' earnings are not as good as they appear. He then says that based on a report he received, passive investing could be reversing. The problem with this is that folks could build a passive portfolio and sell individual stocks if a company gave reason for fear. With index funds, investors are holding all the stocks and will sell the stocks they might like while trying to remove a stock they dislike. And Dave warns that the wave of trillion-dollar IPOs could be the breaking point due to passive investors not being able to support them. (0:00)

 

Next, Dave explains how the market is overvalued and says that while many folks won't mind a correction, they should be concerned. As an example, he says that the average Boomer-generation investor has $300,000 in their retirement savings account. And if the market collapses, that will halve their income flow. Dave shifts the focus to interest rates. Folks aren't quite certain what to make of Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh and whether he'll raise or lower rates. Dave believes that he could be a "Paul Volcker 2.0" who makes America "take its medicine" and start things over despite the short-term pain. But regardless of how things are handled, if the market bubble bursts, it will cause a "multidecade secular bear market." (21:57)

 

Finally, Dave shares what kinds of stocks he owns. He says that he bought gold after selling off platinum. While he initially had a rocky period with the precious metal, it has served him well over the past few years. Energy has also been doing decently in recent times. Dave also says that he has given up on sentiment indicators because he was dissatisfied with them. But he says that engaging in reading outside of your comfort zone and the markets is a great way to get insight into multiple areas and learn about developments in the world. (47:21)