Absolutely everybody hates stocks. Maybe it’s time to buy some

Plus: Putin flops in the Middle East [Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, a golden buying opportunity of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - [Everybody hates stocks](. Time to buy. - [Putin is unpopular]( in the Middle East. - Saudi Arabia faces [peak oil production](. - Blame [crypto for inflation](bbg://news/stories/RFBD4JT0G1KW). Bouncy Castle Because I so seldom get anything right, I never forget the times I accidentally do. On March 4, 2009, for example, I published a [column]( in the Wall Street Journal headlined “Charts Suggest Dow Is Due for a Bounce.” As it turned out, the Dow started bouncing that day and didn’t really stop for 11 years. I did not predict the whole 11-year thing and relied to an embarrassing degree on the 200-day-moving average or some other such technical nonsense, but anyway: Bounce happened! [I'm smart](! Not like everybody says! The real point here is that people hated stocks so much in early March 2009 that even a dope like me could see the hate couldn’t just go on forever. [We may be at a similar turning point in July 2022](, writes John Authers. Bank of America yesterday said fund managers now consider stocks more radioactive than at any time since that golden buying opportunity back in 2009: As you can see from that chart, disgust with stocks can endure for much longer than just one month. The bottom may not be in, past performance is not indicative, yadda yadda yadda. But I said all that same stuff in March 2009 and remained permabearish for far longer than I care to admit thereafter. Sometimes bold predictions are easier than others, and this may be one of those times. Bonus Investment Reading: - [BlackRock just set a record for losing money](. It’s also losing its character as money flows into bond ETFs. — Marc Rubinstein - The [strong dollar suggests the US is in better shape]( than we might fear. — Tyler Cowen Vladimir Putin’s Iranian Vacation Many people criticized President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia to [fist-bump]( a pariah, but at least he got some oil out of the trip? Yay? No? Well anyway, Biden’s Middle East tour at least reminded everybody of America’s enduring importance to the region and the world. Like an annoying little brother, Vladimir Putin just went on a copycat junket. So far it’s [not only more embarrassing than Biden’s](, it’s also reminding everybody how much they really can’t stand Russia, writes Bobby Ghosh. Instead of Jerusalem and Riyadh, Putin went to Tehran and palled around with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It was like an episode of “The Three Stooges,” if the Three Stooges committed crimes against humanity. Bobby notes Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has damaged his standing in the region by making food scarce, exposing his military’s ineptitude, and forcing local petrostates to compete with Russia in selling oil to China. It’s good news for humanity that Putin may struggle to cobble together an effective Axis of Bad Guys to threaten the whole world. Putin can still menace us with those nukes, of course. But James Stavridis lists several reasons [why he probably won’t use them](. One big reason is that starting a nuclear war would probably mean the death of the person most important to Vladimir Putin: Vladimir Putin. Peak Oil Redux Biden’s Saudi visit was driven by the existential crisis of somewhat high gasoline prices, but the solution — more Saudi oil — will exacerbate the arguably more dire existential crisis of apocalyptic global warming. Tough call! But we may not have the luxury of such choices for much longer. Javier Blas points out that, while we were distracted by the fist-bumping thing, Saudi Arabia quietly [announced it will soon hit peak oil-production capacity](. That means we’ll have to find real alternatives quickly, or face a future of truly high fuel prices and slower economic growth. If Biden were serious about climate change being a crisis, of course, [he’d keep gasoline prices at $5 a gallon]( forever, notes Eduardo Porter. One surefire way to get people to stop doing something is to charge more money for it. And we want people to burn less fuel, don’t we? Bonus Climate Reading: - We can make the green transition profitable by [paying dirty companies to change their ways](. — Hendrik du Toit - Companies don’t like the SEC’s climate disclosure rule, but [investors deserve reliable data]( on climate impacts. — Michelle Leder Telltale Charts By making a bunch of people feel richer overnight, crypto might have helped [fuel inflation as its bubble expanded](, writes Nir Kaissar. It could be cooling inflation now as the bubble deflates.  The new brands created by GE’s split [betray a worrisome lack of imagination](, write Brooke Sutherland and Ben Schott. Further Reading [Documented Dreamers have even fewer protections]( than undocumented immigrants’ kids. — Bloomberg’s editorial board America’s mechanism for [installing new judges is hopelessly broken](. — Jonathan Bernstein Contra Joe Manchin, [taxes don’t cause inflation](. — Kimberly Clausing We need to [study how well monkeypox treatments work](. — Lisa Jarvis [Retirement expenses are too unpredictable]( for too many Americans. — Teresa Ghilarducci ICYMI [Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak]( are your BoJo replacement finalists. ([Both, of course, went to Oxford](, John Authers notes.) [Ford is cutting jobs]( to help pay for electric cars. A strong dollar has [Americans moving to Europe](. Kickers Someday we’ll [all fly in electric seagliders](, maybe. [Baby talk is the same]( all over the world. Magnus Carlsen will [not defend his World Chess Champion]( title. My moment has finally arrived. Despite being 20 years old, [Bluetooth tech is still the worst](. Meet the [bookseller who helped transform]( Oxford, Mississippi. Notes: Please send chess moves and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Instagram](, [TikTok](, [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( | [Ad Choices]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022