The stock market crashed 1000 points on Thursday, raising fears that the “Biden recession” isn’t far away for the United States economy.
Michael Burry, the hedge fund manager of “The Big Short” has been warning about this crash, and the “greatest speculative bubble of all time in all things.” Burry continuously stressed that retail investors who were heavily investing in meme stocks and cryptocurrencies were contributing to the “mother of all crashes.”
It appears that Burry knew what he was talking about, because the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes have plummeted by 15% and 24% this year, respectively. On May 3, Burry tweeted that the S&P 500 index could drop by 54% in the next few years, painting a very bleak picture for the future of Biden’s economy.
In a tweet from May 8, Burry noted that the US stock market appears to be following a pattern that leaves it poised for a monumental crash.
On May 10, Burry posted a tweet that suggested the stock-market crash he has been warning about has arrived.
All of these tweets have since been deleted from his account.
Inflation is currently at 40-year highs, as Russia wages its war on Ukraine and the world’s supply chain remains crippled.
Major retailers Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and Lowe’s all reported their quarterly financial results this week, showing different depictions of how their consumers are being affected by the economy.
Both Target and Walmart took unexpectedly hard hits to their profits in the lastest period, while Home Depot and Lowe’s saw resiliency among their customer bases in recent weeks.
“If you look at the demographics of the U.S. and lay our customer map on top of it, we’d be really close to the same thing,” said Brett Biggs, Chief Financial Officer of Walmart. “And so you’ve got some people who are going to feel more pressure than others and I think that’s what we’re seeing.”
This helps explain why some retailers may be seeing more shopping than others in recent weeks, as different consumers experience this economic downturn at different levels.
