Despite infamously reversing his bearish stance on stocks late last year only to be proven wrong, influential investor Dennis Gartman told CNBC that he believed that a bear market has "begun in earnest globally" this time.
Turmoil in Chinese stocks, a spike in gold and continued declines in oil markets are just some of the reasons to believe that a bear market has begun, according to Dennis Gartman, the editor and publisher of "The Gartman Letter"
"You have to be less long of the capital markets," Gartman told CNBC Europe's "Squawk Box" Thursday. Investors could be forgiven for treating Gartman's latest call with caution.
In October, he reversed his bearish stance and said he was then bullish on stocks, only to be proven incorrect as market weakness continued amid uncertainty over the timing of a Federal Reserve hike in interest rates, which eventually occurred in December to little fanfare in stock markets.
In retrospect, Gartman conceded that he made the wrong call. "You have to admit when you're wrong sometimes…I made one bad mistake by reversing myself," he said. "I was wrong for a month but now it's time to be bearish."
"I wanted to believe that the bull market had continued but it appears now to me that the bull market ended back in late May of last year.I think now we're in a real bear market and you have to err bearishly upon stocks, exiting long positions and entering short positions."
Gartman's comments come amid turmoil on Chinese stockmarkets, where trading in shares was suspended for a second time this week after stocks dropped 7 percent, and continued uncertainty over the pace of Fed rate rises. Many market watchers believe there will be four more rate increases in 2016.
Fischer breeds confusion
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