3 Year-end Market Trends to Watch for 2020 — and Beyond!

During this time of year, there just doesn’t seem to be enough ... well ... time. Organizing holiday meals and gatherings. Finalizing travel arrangements. Getting all the shopping done.

It involves days and days of planning, running around and overcoming logistical hurdles. But in the end, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s all worth it when you see smiles on the kids’ faces and you get to make new and wonderful holiday memories.

This particular December, things are a bit more hectic here. But it’s for a good reason: I’m privileged enough to be joining some of you on board the 2019 Money, Metals, & Mining Cruise that sets sail Friday. I’m putting the finishing touches on my presentations and panel discussion points now and can’t wait to share them.

Can’t make it? Not to worry. Here’s some good news for you:

You can still join me and dozens of other analysts, money managers and market experts at the Orlando MoneyShow early next year. It runs from Feb. 6-8 at the Omni Resort at ChampionsGate.

I have a couple of presentations and a luncheon scheduled and would love to meet and talk markets with you there. You can see the agenda and register for free by clicking here. Or call 800-970-4355 for more details.

Just in case you can’t make either, I’ll cover in general terms three of the big-picture market trends I’ll be focusing on at both upcoming events now. Hopefully that will give you a better idea of where markets stand heading into 2020 – and beyond.

My first major point is that the corporate debt market is my single-most important area of concern, bar none.

What has been going on there the last few years is every bit as dangerous, speculative and reckless as what we saw in the home mortgage market in the early 2000s.

Too much money has been borrowed by too many companies with too many risks. As a result, lenders and investors who have foolishly extended credit to them at ridiculously low rates. This means spreads are going to get crushed. Delinquencies and defaults will spike. Bankruptcies will jump. And losses will soar, particularly if I’m correct about the high risk of a 2020 recession.

To protect yourself, I recommend getting out of or dramatically reducing your exposure to high-yield “junk” bonds and ETFs and mutual funds that own them. Reduce your exposure to investment grade corporate debt. And with the money raised by exiting those positions, buy Treasury-focused funds. An example would be the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF, Rated “C+”).

Second: Do NOT let yourself get shaken out of gold, silver and precious metals miners on pullbacks or corrections. That includes the one that began in early September. All my research suggests this is a new, powerful bull market for metals — one that’s still in the early innings.

You can profit from simple, easy-to-own investments such as precious metals or mining ETFs like the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX, Rated “C”). Or you can sign up for my Safe Money Report, where I drill down and get more specific with individual miners, “Buy” and “Sell” targets, recommended allocations and more. Click here for more information.

My third point is that I strongly believe we’re in a late-cycle/end-cycle environment. This means you do NOT want to load up on the same kinds of stocks now that you might have wanted to pile into a few years ago.

Focus on safer, yield-oriented, lower-volatility stocks with high Weiss Ratings instead.

They’re a much better play here compared to a lot of the higher-risk stuff I see some on Wall Street peddling. You can use our website to check the Ratings on your stocks to see how they stand up.

With that, it’s time to get back to my year-end prep work — because there sure is a lot to do!

Until next time,

Mike Larson