Albert Edwards: A bigger crash is coming

Societe Generale’s chief global strategist, Albert Edwards, thinks we may be in line for an even bigger crash than the one in 2008.

Andrew Van Sickle
By
published
in Features

Societe Generale's chief global strategist, Albert Edwards, is known for his gloomy outlook on the markets. The self-proclaimed "uber-bear" warned in 1996 that Western economies and equities were in danger of following Japan into a deflationary bust. He now thinks we may be in line for an even bigger crash.

Central banks just don't learn, says Edwards. China is the latest example of "loose money" inflating a stock bubble and ending in tears, but it is merely a small preview of what's to come.

"I have not one scintilla of doubt" that central banks, having blown up the bubble again, have laid the foundations of "an even bigger version of the 2008 Great Financial Crisis/Recession". Only this time, the authorities won't be able to cut interest rates or up government spending to combat the fallout. As a result, quantitative easing will be stepped up significantly. You'll "hear the roar of the printing presses from Mars".

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But there's one shaft of light in the gloom: gold. Gold has taken a hit lately and the recent price slump could continue as low as $900 per ounce, but bulls won't be fazed. For them, the dip is a welcome prelude to "lift-off".

Andrew Van Sickle
Andrew Van Sickle
Editor, MoneyWeek

Andrew is the editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He grew up in Vienna and studied at the University of St Andrews, where he gained a first-class MA in geography & international relations.

After graduating he began to contribute to the foreign page of The Week and soon afterwards joined MoneyWeek at its inception in October 2000. He helped Merryn Somerset Webb establish it as Britain’s best-selling financial magazine, contributing to every section of the publication and specialising in macroeconomics and stockmarkets, before going part-time.

His freelance projects have included a 2009 relaunch of The Pharma Letter, where he covered corporate news and political developments in the German pharmaceuticals market for two years, and a multiyear stint as deputy editor of the Barclays account at Redwood, a marketing agency.

Andrew has been editing MoneyWeek since 2018, and continues to specialise in investment and news in German-speaking countries owing to his fluent command of the language.

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