Frank Holmes: This Is NOT 2008 All Over Again… “Not Even Close”

With European policymakers struggling to come up with a resolution to the Greek debt crisis and the threat of bank failures hovering over the market on both sides of the Atlantic, many investors are simply giving up on the stock market. "Across the country, investors are fleeing the stock market for the safety of cash," The WSJ reports.

But it's not all gloom and doom, according to Frank Holmes, CEO of U.S. Global Investors.

In the accompanying video, Holmes tells The Daily Ticker's Henry Blodget why he thinks Greece is NOT the 'new Lehman Brothers' and the current environment is "not even close" to 2008.

Primarily, Holmes notes corporate balance sheets remain strong and more than 700 companies in the S&P Composite 1500 Index have year-over-year revenue growth of 10% percent or more. During the bottom of the cycle in 2009, only 179 companies grew that fast.

In addition, he notes recent strength in the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators as well as this week's ISM Manufacturing index as evidence the economy is not nearly as bad as conventional wisdom suggests.

"Despite the negative sentiment out there, investors should remember there will always be highs and lows, peaks and troughs," he writes. "The importance is remembering to be humble when you're at the peak and hopeful when you're in the trough."