The Originator of the Catchphrase "Don't Fight the Fed" has Died

Martin Zweig, money manager, investment author and publisher of investment newsletters, has died.

Although never identifying himself specifically as an Austrian economist, he knew full well that Federal Reserve money printing was a major manipulative force on the economy. He coined the phrase, "Don't fight the Fed," by which he meant that investors should be aware of Fed money printing activities. When the Fed was printing money, in other words, it was no time to be short stocks and when the Fed was slowing money printing it was a time to be very cautious about buying stocks.

 Zweig’s best-known call came during Louis Rukeyser’s Wall Street Week program, when on Oct. 16, 1987,  he predicted stocks were poised for a “vicious” decline reminiscent of the crash of 1929. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 508 points, or a record 23 percent, in the next session, now known as Black Monday.

“I haven’t been looking for a bear market per se, really, in my own mind I’m looking for a crash,” Zweig said on Rukeyser's show.

Understanding Fed money manipulations and their impact on the economy proved lucrative for Zweig. He bought a 16-room apartment at Manhattan’s Pierre hotel in 1999 for $21.5 million.