Is an epic financial meltdown about to commence? Predictions that a crash will occur in the fall of 2015 have been gaining traction. They are bolstered by some of the market events of this summer, which suggest that something big is indeed unfolding.

In August, the Chinese devalued the yuan, setting off volatility in currency, commodity, and equity markets worldwide. The U.S. stock market suffered its worst slide in four years, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling through major support levels. Crude oil prices careened below $40 per barrel.

Holding strong amidst the carnage was gold. The yellow metal may now be re-emerging as the premier safe-haven asset.

In times of financial crisis, gold tends to benefit - or at least hold up better than most other assets. Gold is the pessimist's best friend.

The question before investors now is whether the pessimists will be right. Will the doom-and-gloom scenarios that some prominent market gurus have been forecasting play out? It's worth considering their arguments, keeping in mind that nobody knows the future and that market forecasts are, at best, educated guesses.

Cycles analysts such as Bo Polny predicted a summer high in the stock market. He was right with that call (though his bullish call on silver for July notably failed to pan out). He now expects stocks will "put in a devastating crash cycle low in 2016 on the 50-year Jubilee," in keeping with his views that we live in prophetic times. He sees the worst of the stock market meltdown occurring next year - not in September or October of this year as some are predicting.

One of the reasons why there is so much attention focused on this fall is that mid September marks the end of the 7-year Shemitah cycle, based off the Jewish calendar. Some see Biblical implications in what's about to unfold. It's not our place to weigh in on the religious aspects of market-cycle theories. But regardless of what drives the 7-year cycle, it does seem to exert a significant influence on markets.

The financial crisis of 2008 hit 7 years ago. Go back another 7 years and the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack happened, followed by a recession and bear market in stocks. In 1994, we had a brief bond market panic. Seven years before that, in 1987, the stock market crashed. And a little over 7 years before that (in January 1980), gold and silver prices peaked.

Read the rest of this article: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3487426-the-next-financial-crisis-may-already-be-unfolding 

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