S&P 500 Overvalued by 40%, Set to Fall, Smithers Says

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is about 40 percent overvalued and headed for a drop as central banks pull back on securities purchases that pushed up asset prices, according to economist Andrew Smithers.

Declines are likely because banks will need to sell more shares to raise capital, the economist and president of research firm Smithers & Co. said in an Oct. 23 interview at Bloomberg’s Tokyo office. A 40 percent tumble from the S&P 500’s price at the end of last week of 1,079.60 would take the gauge to 647.76, below its March low.

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