‘The Big Short’ investor Michael Burry thinks financial markets rout is only halfway through
“The Big Short” investor Michael Burry, known for calling the subprime mortgage crisis, warned investors that 2022’s market turmoil is only half finished. Burry, who runs hedge fund Scion Asset Management, said the losses in stocks in the first half of the year have mostly been a result of multiple compression. He said corporations will see an earnings decline next, weighing further on asset prices. “That was multiple compression. Next up, earnings compression. So, maybe halfway there,” Burry said in a Thursday tweet. The S & P 500 has fallen more than 20% this year, posting its worst first half of the year since 1970. Sentiment was hurt by worries about surging inflation and Federal Reserve rate hikes as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine. Bitcoin, also mentioned by Burry in the tweet, is down 58% in 2022 as investors shed risk. Despite the market losses, Wall Street analysts believe earnings for the S & P 500 will increase more than 10% this year, according to consensus estimates collected by FactSet. That’s a higher growth rate than what was expected at the end of the first quarter. Investors like Burry believe that optimism is misguided. Burry shot to fame by betting against mortgage-backed securities before the collapse of the mid-2000s housing bubble. The investor has been negative about the markets and the economy as of late. In May, he drew parallels between today’s market environment and that of 2008, saying it’s like “watching a plane crash.” Burry revealed a bet against Apple — the biggest U.S. company by market cap — at the end of the first quarter, a regulatory filing showed. If he held onto these puts, the bet would have been lucrative as Apple has fallen another 22% in the second quarter, bringing its 2022 losses to 23%.