With Ray Dalio predicting that the US has about 2 years until the next recession, earlier today the head of hedge fund Citadel, Ken Griffin, echoed the Bridgewater founder and predicted that there are "at least 18-to-24 months left in the market rally", thanks to the "giant adrenaline shot" of the U.S. tax overhaul.
Speaking at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York Wednesday, Griffin said that "we are in this debt-fueled buying binge." He said that the U.S. economy is “running hot now” thanks to President Trump’s actions: "The Trump policies, whether deregulation or tax reform, are certainly pushing corporate America to go, go, go," he said, citing low unemployment and meaningful wage growth.
That's the "good" news. The bad new: the artificial "binge" that will extend what is already the longest bull market of all time is "laying the seeds of the next financial crisis", said Griffin.
And what may come as a surprise to many, Griffin admitted that that he’s already managing his fund for the next economic downturn. "My position today is very much focused on managing the tail risks for that... we are late in the cycle, the animal spirits have been unleashed and when these correction occur they happen with very little notice", he said.
In terms of specific crisis catalysts, the hedge fund manager said his biggest worry is the European Union, where individual nations like Italy and Spain can’t print euros to rescue their own economies.
And thanks to Brussels' monetary strait-jacket, the ability of "those countries as sovereigns to rescue their financial system in the next crisis is greatly diminished or not even there," he said.
Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon agreed, and speaking in a separate panel said that he also sees greater risks to the U.S. economy, but just like Dalio and Griffin, he is not worried about the next 12 months but "as you get out to 24 months. The chances go up materially -- now I don’t know what materially is -- is materially 50 to 60 percent? It’s definitely more," he said.
Translation: Wall Street is convinced that the next crash will take place just before the next presidential election...
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