Reply #98: Poll: End of QE2 to hurt stocks, bonds

[xchrom]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/19/us-poll-qe-idUSTRE74I4S220110519

(Reuters) - Investors betting on a rise in stocks, bonds and commodities should prepare for a loud sucking sound in their portfolios next month when the Federal Reserve pulls the plug on its $600 billion stimulus program.

Stocks, bonds, gold and the euro are expected to fall in the three months after the end of the Fed's second massive bond buying operation, also known as quantitative easing, or QE2, a Reuters poll of 64 analysts and fund managers found on Thursday.

Investors and traders approach the end of QE2 with a sense of trepidation, worried that with the Fed no longer supporting the market, investments that have been profitable for the last nine months will plummet and rattle confidence in the shaky economic recovery.

The survey showed investors overwhelmingly thought government bonds would suffer from the Fed's exit, with 40 of 64 respondents saying the end of quantitative easing would drive up yields on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds.