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January 13, 2021 at 02:11 PM
Cathie Wood, the founder and CEO of ARK Investment Management, home to five of the best-performing ETFs in 2020, is very optimistic about equities, real estate and alternative assets including Bitcoin in 2021.
“After 40 years I do believe we are on the threshold of an asset allocation shift away from fixed income toward equities and real estate and other asset classes including Bitcoin,” Wood said in the firm’s monthly market update webinar.
This shift, according to Wood, will continue the recent reversal of “consistent outflows” in equity ETFs and mutual funds amid consistent inflows into fixed income funds, which has prevailed for years, leaving a $1.2 trillion gap.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq posted double-digit gains in 2020 despite outflows from equity funds for much of the year, the coronavirus pandemic and a recession, but Wood does not view those gains as indicating a market bubble.
“I do not believe we will be in a bubble in equities or any other bull market until I see fixed income in outflow mode despite demographic attraction to fixed income from baby boomers,” said Wood.
Their millennial offspring, also known as echo boomers, are moving into stocks, crypto and housing — all areas that Wood is “most excited about” for 2021.
Another reason for Wood’s optimism about equities: a bull market that “has been broadening out” to include cyclical stocks, which “confirm a V-shaped recovery. … This is not like the tech bubble.”
Wood does, however, expect interest rates to rise and the yield curve to continue to steepen until the Federal Reserve is forced to raise short-term rates. Among the potential risks she’s watching: the velocity of money, which is a measure of the turnover of money.
