Strategist Warns of Looming Recession and Potential Equity Market Turbulence

According to the CEO of financial advisory firm Longview Economics, the most recent U.S. economic indicators point to an impending recession, and investors may need to brace themselves for some market pain.

Chris Watling said in an interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Friday that he thought a recession was coming and cited what he called "pretty compelling" and "brutally bad" leading economic indicators as evidence.

The Leading Economic Index for the United States, according to the Conference Board, dropped by 1.2% in March and to its lowest point since November 2020. The data seemed to suggest that the U.S. economy's current state of economic instability might soon worsen and spread.

Watling added that the normal time frame for a recession following the inversion of the Treasury yield curve—which first occurred in March 2022 and then again in the subsequent months - was about one year.

"Every time you’ve had that in the U.S., you’ve had a recession. So, I think it’s coming, it’s on its way. It’s just a timing issue” said Watling.

The International Monetary Fund stated only last week that it had been taken aback by the recent strength of the U.S. labor market and consumer spending, despite the fact that many experts have warned of an impending recession.

The IMF released its most recent World Economic Outlook report on April 11; in it, it predicted that the world's largest economy will grow by 1.6% this year rather than the 1% predicted for 2022.