Ray Dalio: What's Happening In The Markets Has Not Happened In Our Lifetime


27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, told CNBC Thursday morning the COVID-19 shutdown could cost U.S. companies $4 trillion.

Dalio, who famously predicted the global financial crisis back in 2008, said in an interview that the current crisis is unlike anything he’s seen in his lifetime.

ENTER TO WIN $500 IN STOCK OR CRYPTO

Enter your email and you'll also get Benzinga's ultimate morning update AND a free $30 gift card and more!

“What’s happening has not happened in our lifetime before,” Dalio said. “What we have is a crisis.”

The Financial Times reported over the weekend that Brigdewater’s flagship fund, the Pure Alpha Fund II, is already down 20% year-to-date in 2020. In a LinkedIn post on Monday, Dalio said the fund dropped the ball during the current crash rather than making money like it did in 2008.

“We did not know how to navigate the virus and chose not to because we didn’t think we had an edge in trading it. So, we stayed in our positions and in retrospect we should have cut all risk,” Dalio said.

Benzinga is covering every angle of how the coronavirus affects the financial world. For daily updates, sign up for our coronavirus newsletter.

Aggressive Stimulus Package Needed

U.S. President Donald Trump has been pushing Congress to pass a stimulus package worth between $850 billion and $1 trillion to help counter the negative economic impact of the coronavirus. On Thursday morning, Dalio said $1 trillion may not be enough.


Want Private Access to Benzinga Analyst?

Check out the latest strategies our team of experts are using every week so that you can always adapt to the market like the pros!—Get FULL Access to This Week's Webinar Here.


“It depends on if it’s provided as loan guarantees or credits or something along those lines. I would say somewhere in the vicinity of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion is a minimum,” Dalio said.

Dalio said another risk for investors may come if demand for Treasury bonds takes a hit following the outbreak.

“Then you’re going to have the next wave of the crisis because interest rates rising will cause asset prices to go down more again and they also mean that death squeezes will be a problem and also credit spreads would widen,” Dalio said.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:SPY) opened Thursday’s session down 2.8% following Dalio’s comments.

See Also: Could Boeing Get Taken Over By The US Government?

Benzinga’s Take

The size and scope of the U.S. stimulus package could have a major impact on the near-term stability of the U.S. markets. The critical part of the stimulus package may not necessarily be the dollars and cents as much as its ability to instill confidence in the markets and the American people and stave off a full-fledged panic.

Do you agree with this take? Email feedback@benzinga.com with your thoughts.

Photo by Harry Murphy/Web Summit via Sportsfile via Flickr.


27% profit every 20 days?

This is what Nic Chahine averages with his option buys. Not selling covered calls or spreads… BUYING options. Most traders don’t even have a winning percentage of 27% buying options. He has an 83% win rate. Here’s how he does it.


Posted In: GovernmentRegulationsBondsHedge FundsPoliticsTop StoriesEconomicsMarketsMediaGeneralBridgewater AssociatesCoronavirusCovid-19Ray Dalio