Stephanie Landsman
The Leuthold Group’s Jim Paulsen expects the economic downturn from the coronavirus pandemic to reach epic proportions.
But he believes it’s not another Great Depression.
“We
had the roaring 20s, and during that period people got over their
skies,” the firm’s chief investment strategist told CNBC’s “
Trading Nation”
on Friday. “The depression started in some regards to correct the
excesses that built the up over that period, and that has not happened
at all today.”
Paulsen, a long time bull, contends the economy was
firing on all cylinders as the coronavirus started spreading in the
United States.
“This recession, the one we’re definitely in, was
caused by a completely unique phenomenon. It was the first and only
recession by proclamation,” he added. “We just made a public statement
that we’re going to hit the off switch on the economy during this
virus.”
According to Paulsen, the government and Federal Reserve’s
massive economic stimulus policies to soften the to blow today were
non-existent about 90 years ago.
“There was a move culturally in
the country towards fiscal contraction and conservatism,” he said. “I
certainly think it’s going to be a really deep, nasty correction, but I
do not think it’s a Great Depression.”
He acknowledges the climb out of the free fall will be strenuous.
“If you decide to shut down the economy and have everyone stay home, you’re going to have a complete collapse,” said Paulsen.
Paulsen
warned in early February the coronavirus outbreak
could get really serious. He speculates it’ll take a quarter or two for
the U.S. to get its arms around the virus’ spread — based on the fresh
economic activity that’s being seen again in China.
In the meantime,
he said
stocks
could easily retest or even breach the low. However, Paulsen predicts
stocks should be higher than current levels in the next 12 to 18 months.
‘Worst thing you can do is panic’
“Probably, the greatest bulk of the damage has been done,” he said. “The worst thing you can do is panic.”
His best advice to investors: Stay diversified.
“I would use down days here to reduce my exposure to more defensive sectors like the
utilities and
staples and
pharma and
REITs — and look at maybe adding a little more cyclicality to the portfolio,” Paulsen said.
Join Geezgo for free. Use Geezgo's end-to-end encrypted Chat with your Closenets (friends, relatives, colleague etc) in personalized ways.>>
Comments
Post a Comment