Darius sat down with Adam Taggart, founder and CEO of Wealthion, last week to discuss Bitcoin, the stock market, the probability of a recession, and much more.
If you missed the interview, here are three takeaways from the conversation that have significant implications for your portfolio:
1. The US Equity Market Still Has Significant Right Tail Risk Over The Next 3-6 Months
The stock market has historically performed well heading into a recession:
- The median Return of the S&P 500 in the year leading up to the peak around recessions is +16%, with an interquartile range of +14% to +20%.
- More than half of the median return comes in the final three months leading up to the recession.
Our research currently indicates a blow-off top in equities in the months ahead given – especially given the starting point of severely depressed investor sentiment.
2. We Believe The Most Likely Path Forward Is For The Economy to Devolve Into A Mild Recession
Prior to deep recessions, credit typically increases as banks extend credit to less credit-worthy borrowers.
Then, when the economy experiences a tightening of monetary or fiscal policy, the effects are amplified by the large amount of credit present in the financial system.
Today, we have limited credit cycle vulnerabilities, indicated by:
- The Private Sector Credit to GDP ratio of 152%. This ratio has declined throughout this business cycle.
- The Private Sector Credit to GDP ratio trailing five-year z-score of -0.7.
These indicators suggest the recession will likely be moderate because the economy has not experienced the rapid build-up of credit that usually occurs before deep recessions.
3. Bitcoin Will Underperform Stocks Until A Recession Or Sovereign Debt Crisis Forces Central Banks To Pivot
We expect Bitcoin to struggle over the next few quarters until we find a bottom amidst the recession.
If stocks experience a drawdown of 24%, their median drawdown in a recession, Bitcoin will likely fall orders of magnitude further.
Our 42 Macro Global Liquidity Proxy, measured by the aggregated sum of the global central bank balance sheets, global broad money supply, and global FX reserves minus gold, has been trending lower and will likely decline further over the medium term.
Still, we believe Bitcoin will trend significantly higher in the coming years. But we likely will not see a meteoric rise without a recession or significant problem in the sovereign debt markets that causes the stimulus to put Bitcoin on that path.
That’s a wrap!
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