Legendary investor Jim Rogers says market participants should enjoy the rally in stocks while it lasts, issuing a dire warning that "the worst correction of his lifetime" is coming.
U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday as the corporate earnings season continued, with Bank of America reporting better-than-expected quarterly results.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 182 points, or 0.75%, to 24,542, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and the Nasdaq rose 0.35%. Leading the Dow higher were Merck & Co. (MRK) and UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) .
"Soon something's going to happen that will make everyone happy again and the market will go up one more time, and that will probably be the last hoorah. Next year will be not a lot of fun," Rogers said in an interview with Kitco News on Monday.
He added, "It's been 10 years since we have had a bear market. That is very, very unusual, so the next bear market is going to be the worst in my lifetime."
When promoted to quantify the correction, Rogers said it would easily be over 50%.
Turning to gold, last Wednesday the metal reached its highest level last since August 2016 as jitters grew over Syria and Russia.
Many analysts expected the metal to start the week strong given the geopolitical tensions, yet gold prices were trading near unchanged in early U.S. dealings Monday. June Comex gold futures were last down 10 cents an ounce to $1,347.80.
"When there is a lot of bad news and something like gold doesn't go up, it means it's not going to go up - the correction is not over for gold," Rogers explained.
"If gold goes to $1,000, I hope I am smart enough to buy a lot of it. Because, before this is over, gold is going to go through the roof - when people lose confidence in governments and paper money, they always buy gold and silver, whether they should, is irrelevant, they always have," Rogers, the 75-year-old chairman of Rogers Holdings Inc., said.
Watch more from Kitco News here.
This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held TK positions in the stocks mentioned.