Pimco's Bill Gross generated headlines this week by admitting he'd made a mistake by shorting Treasuries earlier this year. (See: Bill Gross Learns a Hard Lesson: Even the 'Bond King' Makes Mistakes)

Euro Pacific Capital's Michael Pento also admits he was wrong to be so bearish on bonds. "I was wrong. I thought bond yields would increase," he says.

But unlike Gross, who reportedly has been buying Treasuries and told The FT it's "pretty obvious" he wish he owned more, Pento is more negative than ever on U.S. debt.

"I will never buy Treasuries," Pento says. "It is the biggest bubble the planet earth has ever seen and when it bursts, it will be a long-term secular trend — much, much higher yields, lower in price and you don't want to be a part of that cataclysm."

Somewhat less dramatically, Pento notes the best time to buy Treasuries is when real interest rates are very high and inflation is falling. "Is that the case today?," he asks rhetorically. "Inflation is rising and real interest Read More »

Ahead of the key August payroll number Friday, unemployment claims totaled 409,000 last week, right in line with expectations. Initial claims fell 12,000 from the previous week, which was revised up 4,000, but the number remains too high to signal any sort of jobs recovery.

With the U.S. unemployment rate at 9.1%, GDP for the first half of the year revised down and consumer confidence falling, fears of the U.S. economy falling back into recession are running high. Although Wednesday's ISM report was better than feared, many economists have lowered growth expectations and several prominent pundits say a recession is imminent, if not already underway.

One notable economist predicting a slowdown is NYU professor Nouriel Roubini. "We've reached a stall speed in the economy, not just in the U.S., but in the euro zone and the UK," he told Bloomberg on Tuesday. "We see probably a 60% probability of recession next year and unfortunately we're running out of policy tools."

This prediction Read More »

August was in like a bear and out like a bull. Stocks closed moderately higher Wednesday, stretching the equity market's winning strike to four consecutive days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is once again higher for the year. And, the Dow has been up seven of the last eight trading sessions.

A positive factory orders report helped boost stocks Wednesday, but that likely wasn't the only reason. Investors may be baking in another round of stimulus from the Federal Reserve following the release of the August FOMC minutes and the Chicago Fed President Charles Evans' comments on CNBC Tuesday. Both hint at the possibility of another round of QE which is viewed by stock investors as a reason to keep taking more risk.

In the accompanying clip, The Daily Ticker's Aaron Task and Michael Pento of EuroPacific Capital discuss the Fed's plans and the state of the U.S. economy.

Pento is a vehement critic of the Fed's easy money policies who believes pumping up assets like stocks come at a great Read More »