Individual investors take note…
Some of the world's best money managers are betting on the biggest financial disaster since 2008.
You won't hear about this from the mainstream media. Networks like NBC or CBS don't have a clue… just like they didn't have a clue the US housing market would collapse in 2007.
Carl Icahn, a super successful investor who's the 31st richest person in the world, said this investment is in a bubble. He said that it's “extremely overheated”… and that “there's going to be a great run to the exits.”
And this investment isn't some complex derivative that only Wall Street and hedge funds can buy. Millions of investors hold it in their brokerage accounts.
The dangerous investment is junk bonds.
Junk bonds are usually issued by companies with shaky finances. They pay high interest rates to compensate investors for their high risk.
Low interest rates have pushed investors into these risky bonds. Junk bonds are one of few places where investors have been able to get a decent income stream.
In 2008, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to near zero to fight the financial crisis. It has held rates near zero ever since. Right now, a 10-year US government bond pays just 2.3%. That's half its historical average, and near its all-time low.
Investors looking for income have turned to junk bonds. This chart shows the growth in junk bonds since 2002. As you can see, junk bonds didn't grow much from 2002 to 2008. But when the Fed cut rates to zero in 2008, junk bond issuance took off:
JPMorgan (JPM) reports that the number of junk bond issues soared 483% between 2008 and 2014.
You might be thinking that you don't own junk bonds… so why should you care?
It's true that many investors don't own junk bonds directly. But many do own them through junk bond ETFs.
The Financial Times recently explained why junk bond ETFs are dangerous:
