Renowned Swiss investor Marc Faber has forecast the bull market may be coming to an end and the US economy is facing recession.
Dr Faber told the ABC's Inside Business he believed the household sector will continue to sell equities given the current high prices.
At the same time there will be less corporate buying of equities because access to the credit market had diminished.
"So I don't believe that from this level onwards, stocks will be in an extended bull market," Dr Faber said.
Dr Faber qualified his prediction that if the US simply prints more money the run will continue.
"Then of course US assets will go up in price and retail sales will increase and so forth,' he said.
"But I also wonder where the (US) dollar will be compared to other currencies and compared to gold."
Dr Faber noted the benchmark indices, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and The Standard & Poor's 500, were at all time highs but measured against the gold price they had gone down by more than 50 per cent.
"So my view is if you believe in the reflating seam, the reflation by the Fed, then (you would) rather be in precious metals and foreign currencies than US dollars, in US bonds and US equities."
Dr Faber said a recent trip to Zimbabwe had reinforced his opinion about the issues associated with "money printing" as a solution to economic problems.
"You'd rather be in precious metals than paper because paper can be multiplied," he said.
"You can create as much paper money as you like as Mr Mugabe has shown in Zimbabwe."
Dr Faber also linked his concerns to the high level of household debt in the US to his concern that the American economy was headed for recession.
The Swiss finance guru said the whole US economy - where household debt is now almost 100 per cent of GDP - was "geared toward consumption".
"And that is the wrong approach in the first place. It means in my opinion the economy will go into recession if they cannot make asset prices go up.
"So the Fed actually has not much options other than to print money."
