Subscriber Comment of the Day
phillip brantley
Nice column in Financial Times by Bill Gross, “Don’t Own Bonds and Be Cautious About Stocks.” It’s a little dated (09-30-2026) and I don’t know if anyone here has talked about it.
“In such an environment [uneven balance sheet growth], my view is: don’t own bonds, with the exception of one-year Treasury bills, which are now at 4.55 per cent. Be cautious with stocks at record levels as higher yields over time will contract profit margins. Be prepared for the end of “what you are used to” stock markets and higher volatility in prices for the benchmark 10-year Treasury bonds. In terms of specific sectors, I am leery of hyperscalers unless they have price-earnings ratios of less than 20. And while I don’t own these stocks, the decent yields of Verizon and AT&T might be attractive for some conservative investors in the US market — though their businesses are threatened now by SpaceX’s Starlink Mobile in terms of mobile telephone markets. There might also be opportunities in income funds trading at a discount to net asset values. Nuveen Preferred & Income Opportunities Fund, to cite an example where I don’t have a holding, is trading at about an 8 per cent discount to NAV and yields 11 per cent. However, like others in the sector, it would suffer if short rates move higher than expected. Preserve and protect is my current investment motto.”
Position: None
