| Dear Reader, What could trigger the big market crash Vern Gowdie is predicting? It could be anything, says Vern. A corporate debt default. Weak earnings. Iran provokes the US into more missile strikes. Trump is removed from office. The coronavirus spreads. If you think the stock market isn’t that twitchy, you probably haven’t been reading the news recently... On Monday, 27 January, the US Dow dropped by 453 points. That wiped out all of the gains made by American stocks this year. We’re talking about the Dow’s biggest one-day fall since October 2019. The NASDAQ also posted its worst day since August last year. Why? More cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in China over the weekend, spooking investors. Alec Young, Managing Director of global markets research at FTSE Russell, told CNBC: ‘China is the biggest driver of global growth so this couldn’t have started in a worse place...Markets hate uncertainty, and the coronavirus is the ultimate uncertainty in that no one knows how badly it will impact the global economy.’ I’m not saying the virus will trigger the big crash. But what Vern says is clear: All it takes is a slight change in sentiment at the margins to have a real, material impact on stock values. Sounds prophetic, given Monday’s price action. But the big question is, when markets are this nervy, and valuations are already stretched, are you sure you want to be risking it all on stocks right now? According to Vern, you need to give this some serious thought...before it’s too late. | Regards, |  | | Greg Canavan,
Editor, The Rum Rebellion |
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