We spoke to a portfolio manager this week who was, to say the least, very negative about the current state of the economy. Scott B. Williams, of Clutinger, Williams & Verhoye, has this to say to investors in the market today:

 Mr. Williams: The advice that we’re giving our clients is that there are major problems in the credit market, there are major problems in the mortgage market and it is going to affect the economy. We’re going to have a recession, so it is time to lower your equity exposure. For more aggressive clients, you can use the exchange traded ultra-shorts as a way to either hedge your equity position or in a more exaggerated stance make money while the market goes down. For more conservative clients, US Treasuries are a great place to be until our outlook turns around.

TWST: Is there anything that you want to add?

Mr. Williams: No, I think I was as pessimistic as I need to be.

For the complete interview with Mr. Williams, including an outlook for 2008 and a look back at what happened in 2007, click here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 6:29 pm and is filed under General Investing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.