Business Insider CEO Henry Blodget talks about the warnings being issued by a growing faction of fund managers, including John Hussman, the president of the Hussman Investment Trust and a former economics professor. He outlines Hussman’s argument that equity valuations are too high, and that technical indicators are flashing sell signals.
Blodget sits down with Business Insider executive editor Sara Silverstein to discuss Hussman’s bear arguments, as well as those posed by Societe Generale strategist Albert Edwards, who’s another long-standing critic of the current equity bull market. She looks at recent comments made by Edwards that the number of Americans planning to take a vacation is signaling the type of complacency that can derail the ongoing rally.
Silverstein and Blodget then debate whether these recent comments from Hussman and Edwards hold water, citing a handful of bull arguments that suggest the market will continue higher for much longer. Blodget says the current environment reminds him of the second half of the 1990s, when bearish value investors were shamed as the market continued to rally. He laments the fact that while Hussman and Edwards may be right at some point, that the lack of clarity around timing makes it difficult to react.