WHEN most investors consider the United States stock market, they think of the vast economy and the big companies - names like General Motors, IBM and Microsoft.
The US market, including the blue-chip New York Stock Exchange and the second tier Nasdaq, is the most sophisticated and liquid equity market in the world.
But when investment adviser Marc Faber thinks of the US stock market, the images are altogether different.
'I think the US stock market will be the next bubble to burst,' Mr Faber said.
'I would categorise the financial world as a rolling bubble that hits different shores as a tidal wave at different times and I believe we are in the midst of a stock market mania in the US.' This is not the first time Mr Faber has called the end of a spell of stock market optimism. He is often right, having predicted the crash in 1987 and subsequent collapse of the Japanese stock market.
The difference this time is the scale of the prediction. He is predicting a fall of between 25 and 40 per cent - a fall as steep, or even slightly bigger than October 1987.
'I don't know when the US bubble will burst. But when it bursts it will have a negative affect on other financial markets,' he said.
