Practical analysis for investment professionals
08 May 2015

Weekend Reads for Global Investors: Investment Gurus Debate the Markets

Posted In: Weekend Reads

Alas, it seems global stock markets have all caught a fever. Major indices in Asia, Europe, and the United States reached new highs over the last month and are mostly still hovering within a few percentage points. Even the NASDAQ has topped the record it set in the internet bubble era. Notably, the bull market in the United States has already become the third longest in its history.

Market direction, US Federal Reserve action, and Warren Buffett’s investment skills were some of the topics that came up at a major hedge fund conference this week, Michael Novogratz, principal of Fortress Investment Group, caught everyone’s attention, saying, “We’ve Already Seen the Beginning of the Quake That Could Be Coming.” He is watching labor inflation as an indicator that could prompt the Fed into action. Peter Schiff, CEO and chief global strategist at Euro Pacific Capital, disagrees. According to Schiff, rather than a Fed rate hike, we’re heading for QE4! You know what people say, it takes two to make a market.

Another market investors have been watching anxiously is oil. Prices have made quite a comeback from the lows reached in the first quarter of this year. Will the trend continue? Or are we on the verge of another down leg in this bear market? Analysts and traders seem to be skeptical of the bull market scenario. Some even went so far as to predict that oil prices will be back down to the $30s. Looks like oil will remain a trader’s market for as far as the eye can see. Long-term investors such as Berkshire Hathaway have been selling some stocks and buying a few others in this sector.

Emerging markets is another one to watch, and for good reason. Forbes has just published its Global 2000 in 2015, a list of the world’s largest public companies. This year China has taken the top four spots for the first time and contributed 232 companies to the list, second only to the United States and surpassing Japan for the first time. France was edged out by South Korea for the fifth spot. Argentina and Cyprus joined the list for the first time. So there is no shortage of excitement.

Figuring out where emerging market stocks are headed is another question. Some analysts argue that funds are flowing back into emerging markets, while others are concerned about another round of “taper tantrums.” Meanwhile, Mark Mobius, the emerging markets investment guru, thinks the rally in emerging markets will continue despite concerns about the Chinese market, which has fueled the outperformance of emerging markets this year.

Below is a full list of links from the paragraphs above and some of the other interesting reads I have come across in recent weeks. Happy reading and enjoy the weekend.

Markets

Investing 

Emerging Markets

Ethics

The Soft Side of Business

And Now for Some Reading Truly for the Weekend . . . 

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All posts are the opinion of the author. As such, they should not be construed as investment advice, nor do the opinions expressed necessarily reflect the views of CFA Institute or the author’s employer.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/JLGutierrez

About the Author(s)
Larry Cao, CFA

Larry Cao, CFA, senior director of industry research, CFA Institute, conducts original research with a focus on the investment industry trends and investment expertise. His current research interests include multi-asset strategies and FinTech (including AI, big data, and blockchain). He has led the development of such popular publications as FinTech 2017: China, Asia and Beyond, FinTech 2018: The Asia Pacific Edition, Multi-Asset Strategies: The Future of Investment Management and AI Pioneers in Investment management. He is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences on these topics. During his time in Boston pursuing graduate studies at Harvard and as a visiting scholar at MIT, he also co-authored a research paper with Nobel laureate Franco Modigliani that was published in the Journal of Economic Literature by American Economic Association. Larry has more than 20 years of experience in the investment industry. Prior to joining CFA Institute, Larry worked at HSBC as senior manager for the Asia Pacific region. He started his career at the People’s Bank of China as a USD fixed-income portfolio manager. He also worked for US asset managers Munder Capital Management, managing US and international equity portfolios, and Morningstar/Ibbotson Associates, managing multi-asset investment programs for a global financial institution clientele. Larry has been interviewed by a wide range of business media, such as Bloomberg, CNN, the Financial Times, South China Morning Post and the Wall Street Journal.

1 thought on “Weekend Reads for Global Investors: Investment Gurus Debate the Markets”

  1. Nikola says:

    I appreciate your weekend reads, but it would be nice if the links opened in a new tab/window rather than closing the current page. Could you fix that?

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