This month’s stark stock market swing serves as an indicator of things soon to come, warns one veteran hedge fund operator.
Mark Spitznagel, president and chief investment officer of Universa Investments, made the prediction in an interview with Fortune, almost two weeks after the scare.
At the time, markets from Japan to the US fell without warning, following a weak jobs report surging volatility amid conflict in the Middle East.
In the wake of the dip, markets have since rebounded – but Spitznagel on Sunday insisted that may be misleading.
The billionaire investor said we’re instead on the verge of the biggest stock market bubbles in history, which inevitably will end with a burst as it did in 2008. Back then, mortgages unloaded to high-risk borrowers resulted in a period of turmoil, following a euphoric bull run.
‘These whips are the market process,’ the 53-year-old said of the more recent unrest, as the S&P 500 on Sunday stood about 5 percent from its August 5 low.
‘This is the market zigging in order to zag.’
Of the panic seen from investors days before, the hedge fund manager declared, ‘It was amateur hour. I have never seen anything like that in my career.’
He went on to explain that while another bull run is in the cards most investors will not be prepared for what comes next over the course of the next several months.