Unleashing the Potential: Fixed Income for Stock-like Returns
Aaron Levitt
|
With bond prices low and yields high, fixed income investments could be very...
And while Schiff didn’t give an exact date when he saw gold hitting that $5,000-an-ounce mark, his forecast did look pretty good for a short period. Gold rose to close at about $1,792 on October 4 of that year. However, it has been in steep decline since. As I mentioned previously, on July 20, 2015, a little more than three years following Schiff’s forecast, gold closed below $1,100 (a drop of over 30 percent) for the first time since March 2010, more than five years ago.
Despite the fact that the Federal Reserve still has not tightened domestic monetary policy, and European and Asian banks have actually loosened their monetary policies, we have experienced neither the inflation Schiff predicted nor the rise in gold prices he was forecasting.
In June 2013, Schiff appeared on CNBC, which called him one of their “favorite guests,” and offered this: “Gold can certainly make a move up to $1,700 or $1,800, but I think ultimately it’s going a lot higher than that.” He added: “When the world figures out the position that we’re in, gold is going to the moon.” He further stated that while gold was off its high, “it’s not going a lot lower.” At the time, gold was $1,374.
Schiff has been wrong not only regarding gold, but also about inflation. Keep in mind the Fed has been unable to get inflation to increase and remain above its target of about 2 percent. Given how persistently wrong he has been for such an extended period, one can only wonder why anyone would still care what Schiff has to say. I’m pretty sure Warren Buffett doesn’t care what Schiff, or for that matter any other market “guru,” is forecasting. And if he doesn’t, why should you?
Fortunately, we have more evidence on Schiff’s ability to accurately forecast the direction of the financial markets. The website Wall Street Economists is published by the Economic Predictions Research Project (EPRP), an academic nonprofit research group.
The project was created to track economic forecasts about the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Among those tracked were Nouriel Roubini and Peter Schiff. The project was completed in 2012. Researchers found that of the 17 predictions made by Schiff that they reviewed, five turned out to be correct, 10 turned out to be wrong and two received an incomplete grade:
It’s worth noting that Schiff did accurately predict in 2006 and again in 2007 that the U.S. economy would not be strong, that the housing market would crash and that we would have high unemployment.” However, an article from U.S. News & World Report analyzing Schiff’s forecasts about the crisis also found 12 ways Schiff was wrong in 2008:
After all, the conclusion reached by the research project on Schiff’s forecasting record was: “If you followed Peter Schiff’s advice about the housing bubble and gold you could have made a [of] lot money or at least saved yourself a lot of losses. On the other hand if you followed his other predictions you would have lost a lot of money. According to some of Schiff’s own clients, portfolios invested with Schiff were down anywhere from 40-70%.”
But because Schiff’s forecasts have often focused on gold prices, I thought it would also be worthwhile to take a look at some of the beliefs commonly held about gold. More on that will be coming next week.
Receive email updates about best performers, news, CE accredited webcasts and more.
Aaron Levitt
|
With bond prices low and yields high, fixed income investments could be very...
Aaron Levitt
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And while Schiff didn’t give an exact date when he saw gold hitting that $5,000-an-ounce mark, his forecast did look pretty good for a short period. Gold rose to close at about $1,792 on October 4 of that year. However, it has been in steep decline since. As I mentioned previously, on July 20, 2015, a little more than three years following Schiff’s forecast, gold closed below $1,100 (a drop of over 30 percent) for the first time since March 2010, more than five years ago.
Despite the fact that the Federal Reserve still has not tightened domestic monetary policy, and European and Asian banks have actually loosened their monetary policies, we have experienced neither the inflation Schiff predicted nor the rise in gold prices he was forecasting.
In June 2013, Schiff appeared on CNBC, which called him one of their “favorite guests,” and offered this: “Gold can certainly make a move up to $1,700 or $1,800, but I think ultimately it’s going a lot higher than that.” He added: “When the world figures out the position that we’re in, gold is going to the moon.” He further stated that while gold was off its high, “it’s not going a lot lower.” At the time, gold was $1,374.
Schiff has been wrong not only regarding gold, but also about inflation. Keep in mind the Fed has been unable to get inflation to increase and remain above its target of about 2 percent. Given how persistently wrong he has been for such an extended period, one can only wonder why anyone would still care what Schiff has to say. I’m pretty sure Warren Buffett doesn’t care what Schiff, or for that matter any other market “guru,” is forecasting. And if he doesn’t, why should you?
Fortunately, we have more evidence on Schiff’s ability to accurately forecast the direction of the financial markets. The website Wall Street Economists is published by the Economic Predictions Research Project (EPRP), an academic nonprofit research group.
The project was created to track economic forecasts about the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Among those tracked were Nouriel Roubini and Peter Schiff. The project was completed in 2012. Researchers found that of the 17 predictions made by Schiff that they reviewed, five turned out to be correct, 10 turned out to be wrong and two received an incomplete grade:
It’s worth noting that Schiff did accurately predict in 2006 and again in 2007 that the U.S. economy would not be strong, that the housing market would crash and that we would have high unemployment.” However, an article from U.S. News & World Report analyzing Schiff’s forecasts about the crisis also found 12 ways Schiff was wrong in 2008:
After all, the conclusion reached by the research project on Schiff’s forecasting record was: “If you followed Peter Schiff’s advice about the housing bubble and gold you could have made a [of] lot money or at least saved yourself a lot of losses. On the other hand if you followed his other predictions you would have lost a lot of money. According to some of Schiff’s own clients, portfolios invested with Schiff were down anywhere from 40-70%.”
But because Schiff’s forecasts have often focused on gold prices, I thought it would also be worthwhile to take a look at some of the beliefs commonly held about gold. More on that will be coming next week.
Receive email updates about best performers, news, CE accredited webcasts and more.
Aaron Levitt
|
With bond prices low and yields high, fixed income investments could be very...
Aaron Levitt
|
Fund flows into active ETFs underscore how popular the vehicle is for investors...
Aaron Levitt
|
With their natural inflation protection, high yields and tax-free status, tobacco bonds could...
Mutual Fund Education
Justin Kuepper
|
Let's take a closer look at how ESG investments have outperformed during the...
Mutual Fund Education
Daniel Cross
|
While CITs and mutual funds share many similarities, there are some key differences...
Mutual Fund Education
Sam Bourgi
|
The phrase ‘bear market’ has been thrown around a lot lately, but it...