WASHINGTON, D.C. Jan. 6 (DPI) – Veteran portfolio manager Bill Gross wrote today that 2015 will be the year that near-zero interest rates will no longer spur economic growth, and investors should expect negative returns – or be happy with very modest positive returns — from most financial assets.

Gross, 70, somewhat mysteriously left his founding leadership role at Pacific Investment Management and joined Janus Capital Group last year. He’s been regarded over the years as a bearish prognosticator, and as a result there are plenty of economists who now scoff at his negative outlooks.

But remarks in his most recent commentary got a jolt of credibility as global stock markets skidded yesterday and today, largely on recession fears in Europe, weakness in Asia and the impact of dramatically lower oil prices threatening a wave of defaults in the energy sector.

Gross’s basic point: Central bank policies may spur a financial “super-cycle” with bond-buying programs and efforts to keep the cost of credit low, but those policies can work only for so long.    “Time for risk taking has passed,” he wrote.

Debt supercycles in the process of reversal are not favorable events for future investment returns. Father Time in 2015 is not the babe with a top hat in our opening cartoon. He is the grumpy old codger looking forward to his almost inevitable “Ides” sometime during the next 12 months. Be cautious and content with low positive returns in 2015. The time for risk taking has passed.

https://www.janus.com/bill-gross-investment-outlook

http://finance.yahoo.com/tumblr/blog-ides-by-bill-gross-172835964.html