What does a bubble look like and how do they end? In this week's Outside the Box, James Montier of Societe Generale in London looks at not only the psychological analysis, but also at the propensity for commentators to continually proclaim the end of the problem and a resumption of business as usual. He includes a fascinating piece from Marc Faber documenting the various quotes about how well the economy was doing from 1928-32. This makes for fun, if a little sobering, reading.
To quote from his summary:
"We have seen the heads of virtually all financial institutions stand up over the last few months and claim the worst is behind us. Why would anyone listen to these people? They didn't see the disaster coming, and yet somehow they are qualified to tell us it is all alright! Perhaps I am just unduly sceptical, but this reeks of a conspiracy of optimism. The recession has barely started, let alone reached its nadir. The market moves of late have all the hallmarks of a classic sucker's rally. This isn't discounting the recovery, this is denial! Far from being behind us, the worst may well still be ahead!"
I think you will find this letter very interesting.
The Road To Revulsion: by James Montier
A couple of months ago I wrote a note arguing that events unfolding the in the US weren't a black swan but rather an example of a predictable surprise (see Mind Matters, 13 March 2008 http://sgresearch.socgen.com/publication/strategy_periodical(20080313)_408.pdf). To claim the credit crisis as a black swan is to abdicate all responsibility for its occurrence. I argued that bubbles are a by-product of human behaviour, and that human behaviour is sadly all too predictable.
The details of each bubble are different but the general patterns remain very similar. As Marx said, history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. It is the general pattern of debubbling that I wish to explore this week, particularly in the context of the market's apparent attitude that the worst of the problems seem to be behind us.
Bubbles: a framework for analysis
We have long been proponents of the Kindleberger/Minsky framework for analysing bubbles (see Chapters 38 and 39 of Behavioural Investing for all the details). Essentially this model breaks a bubble's rise and fall into five phases as shown below.
Displacement - The birth of a boom
Displacement is generally an exogenous shock that triggers the creation of profit opportunities in some sectors, while closing down profit availability in other sectors. As long as the opportunities created are greater than those that get shut down, investment and production will pick up to exploit these new opportunities. Investment in both financial and physical assets is likely to occur. Effectively we are witnessing the birth of a boom.
Credit creation - The nurturing of a bubble
Just as fire can't grow without oxygen, so a boom needs liquidity to feed on. Minsky argued that monetary expansion and credit creation are largely endogenous to the system. That is to say, not only can money be created by existing banks but also by the formation of new banks, the development of new credit instruments and the expansion of personal credit outside the banking system.
Euphoria
Everyone starts to buy into the new era. Prices are seen as only capable of ever going up. Traditional valuation standards are abandoned, and new measures are introduced to justify the current price. A wave of overoptimism and overconfidence is unleashed, leading people to overestimate the gains, underestimate the risks and generally think they can control the situation.
Critical stage/Financial distress
The critical stage is often characterised by insiders cashing out, and is rapidly followed by financial distress, in which the excess leverage that has been built up during the boom becomes a major problem. Fraud also often emerges during this stage of the bubble's life.
Revulsion
This is the final stage of a bubble's life cycle. Investors are so scarred by the events in which they participated that they can no longer bring themselves to participate in the market at all.
Bull traps in bear markets
Of course, no debubbling process occurs in a straight line. They are punctuated by electrifying bull runs than end up as bear traps. I first came across the wonderful chart below in Marc Faber's Doom, Boom and Gloom report. It struck such a cord that I had to reproduce it here, taken from Colin Seymour's website.
1 "We will not have any more crashes in our time."- John Maynard Keynes in 1927 [NB: The authenticity of this one is a little suspect]
2. "I cannot help but raise a dissenting voice to statements that we are living in a fool's paradise, and that prosperity in this country must necessarily diminish and recede in the near future." - E. H. H. Simmons, President, New York Stock Exchange, January 12, 1928
"There will be no interruption of our permanent prosperity." - Myron E. Forbes, President, Pierce Arrow Motor Car Co., January 12, 1928
3. "No Congress of the United States ever assembled, on surveying the state of the Union, has met with a more pleasing prospect than that which appears at the present time. In the domestic field there is tranquility and contentment...and the highest record of years of prosperity. In the foreign field there is peace, the goodwill which comes from mutual understanding." - Calvin Coolidge December 4, 1928
"When the financial and business history of 1929 is finally written, developments of the past fortnight will occupy a prominent place in what will doubtless be the chronicle of an exceptionally brilliant twelve month period." - The New York Times, July 1929
"It becomes increasingly evident that, in many respects, 1929 will be written into the commercial history of the country as the most remarkable year since the World War in point of sustained demand for goods and services." - The New York Times, August 1929:
4. "There may be a recession in stock prices, but not anything in the nature of a crash." - Irving Fisher, leading U's. economist, New York Times, Sept. 5, 1929
"Stock prices will stay at high levels for years to come, says Ohio economist" - The New York Times, II, Page 7, Col. 2, Oct 13, 1929
5. "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau. I do not feel there will be soon if ever a 50 or 60 point break from present levels, such as (bears) have predicted. I expect to see the stock market a good deal higher than it is today within a few months." - Irving Fisher, Ph.D. in economics, Oct. 17, 1929
The market went into decline until Monday, October 21st, 1929
"He dismissed yesterday's break in the market as a 'shaking out of the lunatic fringe that attempts to speculate on margin.'" - Irving Fisher, The New York Times, Oct.
