2019 forecasts: predictions will be wrong, random or worse. Every year, the prognosticators come out of hiding. You have to wonder why they bother, given their record. – Bloomberg ‘Tis the season, when strategists and analysts (metaphorically speaking) sharpen their pencils to jot down their most heartfelt predictions for the coming year. Full of bravado and confidence, they explain what stocks to buy, whether a recession will come along, what the Fed is going to do, and when the market is going to crash. (Although that last one is less of a prediction these days and more of a case of real-time reporting.) These are, for the most part, exercises in futility. All analysts belong to a species which has repeatedly shown itself to be terrible at predicting very much beyond what they might like to eat for lunch today. This is not an opinion, it is a statement of fact … The problem with forecasts goes beyond their mere lack of accuracy. My critique is with the underlying cognitive and phi...
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