Kass: A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
NEW YORK (Real Money) --
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
-- The Holy Bible, Matt. 7:15 (King James Version)
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Markets move based on how events transpire relative to consensus expectations, and it is my view that many commonly held and more upbeat expectations for 2013 are too optimistic -- perhaps substantially so.
To be sure, Mr. Market's momentum from the end of 2012 and year-to-date 2013 has been impressive, but Mr. Market is often fickle and the wolf could emerge out of the sheep's clothing.
With higher share prices has come a degree of investor optimism that is all too often associated with previous tops.
Most recently, the failure of the fiscal cliff debate to accomplish much of anything has been ignored by investors. I am now convinced that hyper-partisanship will prevent meaningful budget cutting legislation in the months ahead.
This is a profound negative, as it relates to our economy and our investments.
From my perch, the current degree of bullishness (among other reasons) is founded on the notions that:
- there is a global monetary put that limits the market's downside;
While some of these factors have merit, I believe, nonetheless, that there is less than meets the eye to the current equity market advance.
Market participants, for now, are ignoring conspicuous headwinds and rationalizing the irrational.
So, I wanted to start the week by describing what I see as the most powerful headwinds and suggest that the high for S&P 500 in 2013 might be accomplished in the first two weeks of the year.
