June 22, 2013

A last gasp for stocks

Things appear to be getting better slowly, but “the world economy is weaker than people think it is”, he reckons. Bond yields “won’t rise”; indeed, they “might come down in major countries… by late summer”.

Stocks could rally into the summer, but this will be a last gasp, while emergingmarket currencies and equities, along with commodities, are set to keep disappointing. “It is time to reduce portfolio risk.”

Europe has been, and will remain, “a disaster”. It will only come right if there’s a political union to complement the joint currency, but at present Germany is only inclined to help the weaker states “on a piecemeal basis” so they can’t recover properly.

France could be the next flashpoint as it is uncompetitive and unwilling to galvanise growth with structural reforms. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Europe had another crisis by January.”

Felix Zulauf was born 1950, and is the owner and president of Zulauf Asset Management, a Zug, Switzerland-based hedge fund. Felix has worked in the financial markets and asset management for almost 40 years. Mr. Zulauf has been a regular member of the Barron's Roundtable for more than 20 years.