Doug Kass' 15 Crazy Predictions For 2015

In an article on The Street, Doug Kass detailed a list of 15 surprise predictions for the coming year.

• Faith in central bankers will be tested across Europe, Japan and the United States. Kass sees the price of gold soaring to $1,800 to $2,000 per ounce while the Volatility Index rises above 30.
• U.S. stock market “falters” and experiences a 10 percent loss for the year. The S&P Index makes a yearly high in the first quarter and closes the year at yearly lows as a global economic slowdown intensifies in the June to December period.
• Declining oil prices fails to help the economy as the savings from lower fuel prices are eaten up by higher costs for food, rent, insurance, education, etc.
• Hackers (perhaps from North Korea) attack New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq computers resulting in “the mother of all flash crashes.”
• A three-decade bull market run in the bond market comes to an end in the coming year as European yields jump to where the U.S. 10-year yield resides.
• China devalues its currency by more than 3 percent versus the U.S. dollar as the country loses its manufacturing edge and its trade surplus has disappeared.
• Apple Inc.'s AAPL valuation tops $1 trillion despite the next product upgrade cycle being a while away. Shares will also prove to be the best-performing large-cap in the coming year.
• U.S. government legislation is introduced that allows for repatriation of foreign cash at a low tax rate.
• The Energy sector transforms from the worst-performing group in 2014 to the best-performing group in the first half of 2015, only to fall back later on in the year as crude oil dips to under $50 by the end of 2015.
• Governor Jeb Bush declares his candidacy to run for U.S. president and will become a “big favorite” to win the presidency over Secretary Hillary Clinton.
• Food inflation “accelerates” after Russia suspends exports of wheat.
• Home prices fall in the second half of 2015 and builders lose pricing power.
• Carl Icahn calls Twitter Inc TWTR his “new Netflix” resulting in a bidding war between Google and Facebook to acquire the company. Google eventually wins the battle and acquires Twitter for $60 a share. Also, two hedge funds assume an activist stake in Cisco and force CEO John Chambers out.
• Berkshire Hathaway makes its largest acquisition in history, acquiring either an energy, retail or construction/equipment company for more than $55 billion.
• A derivatives blow-up will “harm our markets,” once again.