SocGen's Edwards: These are dangerous times for US equities

Coronavirus sparks recession predictions

Société Générale's bearish strategist Albert Edwards has warned investors not to get tempted by "cheap" US equities, as the coronavirus plunges US indices into bear territory and President Donald Trump closes the country's borders.

Commenting on the bullish view that the US equity market is "cheap on an equity risk premium basis and has already discounted recession", the permabear analyst said: "What utter poppycock." In Edwards' opinion, equity markets are in a vulnerable position, as the "toxic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic" collides with "the grotesquely over-leveraged and vulnerable US corporate sector". "I've read enough about the coronavirus to have been persuaded that there are a variety of compelling and obvious reasons to suppose the US will suffer much worse from the virus than other Western in...