You wouldn't call MarketWatch columnist Paul Farrell a bull when it comes to stocks.
"It’s time to start the countdown to the crash of 2016,"
he writes. "No, this is not a prediction of a minor correction. Plan on a 50 percent crash."
And why are we going to have such a crash? Farrell cites "The Crash of 2016" by radio talk show host Thom Hartmann.
"The pillars of democracy that once supported a booming middle class have been corrupted, and without them, America teeters on the verge of the next Great Crash," Hartmann writes.
Farrell says it will be like the previous crashes of 2008, 2000 and 1929.
"Cycles theorists warn that we dodged a crash in 2012-2013, thanks to the Fed’s stimulus and cheap-money policies. Or rather delayed it, which adds more power to the next one," he writes.
"This next one will trigger losses bigger than 2000 and 2008."
The S&P 500 index has tripled since March 2009 and hasn't seen a 10 percent correction since October 2011.
But before you go out and sell all your stocks, remember that Farrell's view is extreme, though plenty of analysts say a 10 percent correction may be coming soon.
Barron's columnist Michael Kahn thinks stocks are poised to rise higher, at least for the short term. "One and all, big and small: the stock market is at new highs, and in the absence of a crushing increase in interest rates by the Federal Reserve, there is little in the way to stop it," he writes.
The S&P 500 index hit a record high Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average did so Wednesday.
"To be sure, there are a few problems, such as the questionable performance of some typical bull market leading sectors like financials in particular," Kahn says.
"But with the proxy for the 'average stock' — the New York Stock Exchange Composite Index — hitting new highs and market breadth still quite positive, it’s hard to fight the tape." The NYSE Composite Index has produced a return of 2.7 percent so far this year.
© 2026 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.