This RBS Call From January Is Starting To Look Pretty Embarrassing

With the S&P 500 once again hitting new all-time highs on Thursday, investors are feeling pretty good about their stock portfolios. Perhaps that’s why Pension Partners, Charlie Bilello took to Twitter to have some fun at Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC RBS analyst Andre Roberts’ expense.

Back on January 8, Roberts published a note urging investors to “sell everything” other than high-quality bonds.

“We think investors should be afraid that the ominous outlook for the world in our Year Ahead has been borne out over the past six weeks,” Roberts wrote in January.

“We have been warning in past weeklies that this all looks similar to 2008.”

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As Bilello pointed out, Roberts call was poorly timed, in spectacular fashion.

Since January 8, these are some of the returns investors have enjoyed:

• SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY up 12.6 percent
• United States Oil Fund LP (ETF) USO up 10.6 percent
• iShares iBoxx $ High Yid Corp Bond (ETF) HYG up 7.7 percent
• iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx (ETF) EEM up 21.1 percent

In the ultimate irony, Royal Bank of Scotland’s stock is down 39.8 percent over the same period.

It’s always good for investors to weigh the opinions of market analysts and experts, but Roberts’ blown call is a perfect example of how blindly following analyst guidance can be a costly approach to the market.

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Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.