Practical analysis for investment professionals
27 March 2015

Weekend Reads for Global Investors: Insights from Mark Mobius and More

Posted In: Weekend Reads

Nothing earth-shattering went down in global financial markets this last week — until the Saudi air strikes in Yemen Thursday morning. Oil prices have continued to rebound since.

(I am surprised that no conspiracy theorists have yet advanced the theory that the Saudis are good chartists and picked the perfect timing for oil prices to break through the neckline of the double bottom formation. That is, for those of us not as eloquent in technical analyst speak, they picked the precise moment to give oil prices a push so that they will continue to go up from here.)

Movements of this magnitude, though, are usually nothing more than noise that long-term investors should tune out. The event more deserving of your attention could be Buffett’s glowing endorsement of the Heinz-Kraft merger. It is worth reading about because it is a live case study of how Buffett implements his investment philosophy: buying great companies at fair prices. Apparently Buffett thought the market had undervalued Kraft by a significant margin. Do you think the price is right?

There was a series of events in recent weeks related to the proposed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that probably was not on many investors’ radar screens. (AIIB seems to have aroused more interest among politicians than investors.) I thought I’d mention it here not because I think it will have much market impact in any meaningful way any time soon, but rather because it is consistent with something I discussed in a couple of blog posts earlier this year.

Namely, in today’s world, where much of emerging market investments come from developed countries, an emerging market won’t graduate from its “emerging” status until it fully adopts the rules and market institutions jointly established by investors in the developed markets. This won’t change until the net worth of the “emerging markets” reaches levels similar to those of developed markets. China is nowhere near “developed” status in that regard, but it is apparent how much influence money can buy. The United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, and now Australia have all broken ranks with the Obama administration and declared an interest in joining the AIIB.

Below are some of the interesting reads I have come across in recent weeks, including insights from investment luminaries such as Mark Mobius.

Markets 

Investing 

Emerging Markets

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.

3 thoughts on “Weekend Reads for Global Investors: Insights from Mark Mobius and More”

  1. Purbali says:

    Interesting read…was desperately looking for such global information from a genuine source….Thanks

    1. Larry Cao, CFA says:

      Thanks for visiting our blog and very glad to hear that you found what you were looking for!

      Warm regards,
      Larry

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