SocGen's Edwards: Investors are 'stoned on free money'

Could 'easily prove fatal'

Société Générale's bearish strategist Albert Edwards has warned the investment community is "hooked on monetary opioids" provided by central bankers over the past decade.

In his latest investment note, the permabear noted that every major central bank has played a part in injecting another "dose of euphoria" into its "market patch". The Federal Reserve, he said, was the most "visible and dominant dealer" of all, by deciding to put its foot on the interest rate brake in January just a month after signalling plans to raise rates twice in 2019. Markets are now pricing in a rate cut. However, it is not just the Fed. As Edwards highlighted the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan and the People's Bank of China all loosened policy in January. SocGen's...