Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is wrong about a bond bubble, and interest rates can go much lower, closely followed strategist Mark Grant said Tuesday.
Greenspan warned on Friday that the bond market is on the cusp of a collapse that will threaten stock prices. Once it starts “it will be rather rapid,” he added in the CNBC interview.
“I think Mr. Greenspan is wrong, and I think a lot of people that are projecting all year that we’re going to have 3 percent on the 10-year have been wrong,” said Grant, chief strategist at Hilltop Securities.
“The central banks, according to the World Economic Forum, have created about $15 trillion in excess liquidity in the system,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Basically, the central banks created an economy that’s 85 percent of the economy of the United States or China. And consequently, you have this giant amount of liquidity of money in the system that has been buoying equities, and it’s been keeping interest rates low.”
Grant said it may not matter what the U.S. central bank does because other banks are injecting liquidity even though markets have been expecting the European Central Bank to begin unwinding the stimulus it used in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.
On the morning of Election Day, Grant correctly predicted that the stock market would rally in the event of a surprise Donald Trump victory.
Grant said Tuesday investors should not short banks. He said U.S. tax reform will be beneficial, but American financials are stronger than in Europe.
“I wouldn’t buy a European bank bond for all the tea in China,” he said.
Strategist Mark Grant sees no bond bubble, says rates can go lower