Barton Biggs, who manages $1.4 billion for hedge fund Traxis Partners, dumped about 50 percent of its stock investments in recent days.
He told Bloomberg he’s worried that the economy will fall back as governments around the world withdraw their stimulus too early
On June 29, before Biggs’ sales, bullish stock bets accounted for about 70 percent of the fund’s portfolio.
“I can change my mind very quickly,” he said. “I’m not wildly bearish, but I don’t want to have a lot of risk at this point. I just want to have less exposure at a time like this.”
ALERT: Frazier: Stocks Rolling Over. Get Out Now.
Biggs is concerned that the stimulus reversal, including the Senate’s abandonment of its effort to extend unemployment benefits, may send the economy back into recession.
“The economic numbers are very disappointing,” Biggs said.
“Maybe the politicians respond. I’m worried that we could have not just a soft patch but a double dip which lasts two or three quarters and where nominal GDP is only up 2 or 3 percent.”
That would have a profound effect on corporate profits, he points out. “I’m afraid the market goes down another 10 or 15 percent if that happens.”
Technical analyst Robert Prechter is much more bearish than Biggs. He thinks the Dow Jones industrial average will fall 90 percent to 1,000 in the next five to six years.
“I’m saying: ‘Winter is coming. Buy a coat,’” Prechter told the New York Times.
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