Wall Street veteran Byron Wien won’t release his legendary 2020 market surprises until January, but he offered one that didn’t make the cut Tuesday on CNBC.
“Watch gold in 2020,” the vice chairman of private wealth solutions at Blackstone said on “Squawk on the Street.” “It has a chance to be an interesting investment.”
Wien, whose Wall Street career has spanned about 50 years, releases an annual list of 10 market surprises that remains a must-read in the financial industry.
He said he didn’t include the bonus gold prediction in his 2020 list because he included something “similar” in 2019 and, “I don’t do it two years in a row.”
Wien’s comments Tuesday came as gold rose to its highest levels in about six weeks.
Spot gold prices hit their highest since Nov. 7 at $1,489.52. U.S. gold futures also edged up 0.3%, to $1,492.80.
Looking at 2020 more broadly, Wien said he didn’t think any of the major risks to the long-running market rally are likely to materialize.
Those risks include rising inflation causing the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates and a progressive Democrat such as Sen. Bernie Sanders or Sen. Elizabeth Warren winning the party’s presidential nomination and defeating President Donald Trump in the November election.
Instead, Wien said he thinks rates will remain at their current levels and that Trump will win re-election. He also said Brexit looks likely to be resolved in 2020.
“Right now, I don’t see any severe thunderstorms inflicting the market in 2020,” he said.