June 23, 2011 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks aren’t likely to see price declines similar to those during the financial crisis of 2008, said Larry Kantor, head of research for Barclays Capital.
Markets are vulnerable when households and corporations are overconfident, valuations are stretched, and cyclical sectors are booming, and “none of those conditions hold now,” said Kantor during a presentation of the firm’s Global Outlook report released today. Barclays advises investors to maintain a “neutral risk.”
In 2008, when Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed, about $10 trillion was erased from share values from June 2008 to March 2009, according to the Bloomberg U.S. Exchange Market Capitalization Index. The bank bought Lehman’s North American business during the 2008 credit crisis.
Kantor said Barclays expects an improvement in economic growth in the third quarter. Opportunities for investors are limited because “we aren’t turning the corner on the big problems” such as Greece and the U.S. debt. Barclays Capital is the investment banking unit of London-based Barclays Plc. (BARC)