The president of David W. Tice & Associates, Inc. warned that it's now a "very dangerous period" to be investing in assets such as cryptocurrency and stocks. David Tice, known for making bearing bets during bull markets, issued his grim long-term prognosis of the current market.
The former manager of the Prudent Bear Fund said that it is difficult to predict the next major pullback but a major market meltdown is unavoidable and it will happen sooner than expected. He said the market right now is "dangerous" and risks are too great to warrant major investments.
"The market is very overpriced in terms of future earnings. We are adding debt like we've never seen. We have the Treasury market acting very strange with rates falling dramatically," Tice said.
Tice said investors should weigh the risks of making bets in today's markets. He said attempting to earn 3% to 5% in the near term while contending with the threat of a 40% pullback does not make sense.
Tice also talked about the dangers of betting on "big tech" and FAANG stocks. He said a lot of money is being thrown at companies such as Alphabet, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Twitter, which means that their values are extremely overpriced.
For cryptocurrencies, Tice said investors should be vigilant in trading and holding intangible digital assets. Earlier in the year, Tice was bullish on Bitcoin. Now, he seems to have reversed course after the world's largest cryptocurrency dove from its all-time highs in March.
"We had a bitcoin position when bitcoin was at $10,000. However, when it got to $60,000 we felt like that was long in the tooth... Lately, there's been a lot more uproar from central bankers, Bank for International Settlements [and] the Bank of England have made profound negative statements. I think it's very dangerous to hold," Tice said.
Tice said investors looking to secure their finances should look to assets such as gold and silver. He said gold is "the place to be" in terms of protecting investments from the "lack of discipline in the monetary and fiscal markets."
"I would be owning gold, especially gold and silver mining companies. These companies have never been cheaper. Many are at single-digit multiples yet have potentially 15 to 20% growth rate in earnings even with this flat gold price," Tice said.
