In this installment of "In The Arena," host Daryl Jones is joined by hedge fund manager and Macro Voices host Erik Townsend.
Erik shares a fascinating journey from a software entrepreneur to becoming a hedge fund manager and offers wonderful insights on the U.S. economy and stock market. In this wide ranging conversation Erik shares his views on the Fed and quantitative easing, stocks and bonds, the future of oil markets and digital cash.
Erik describes what he sees ahead in the markets which is based on the premise that both bonds and equities are currently overvalued.
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"I think we're headed a lot lower on stocks and the thing we've got to come to grips with is we've got a dual bubble in both equities and bonds and that means that a lot of time tested rules about okay, stock market's going to crash that means bond yields are going much lower. Well wait a minute, bond yields are already at artificially low levels, are they really going lower or are we headed to a point where at some point people recognize, hey, wait a minute...bonds are always viewed as a safe haven because nothing can go wrong, but the U.S. has $21 trillion of national debt and is maybe at risk of at least partially losing its reserved currency status and some of the benefits that an enjoys from that through this whole de-dollarization trend that Russia and China have been pushing." |
Here is a glance at how Erik feels about the profession of money managing.
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"The pro finance business is mostly about salesmanship. It's talking rich guys into taking risks they don't understand." |
Erik discussed the issue of sourcing energy and some common misconceptions consumers and investors alike often share.
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"I think most Tesla owners don't realize that driving a Tesla results in more carbon going into the atmosphere, not less. When you drive a Tesla, that electricity that charges your Tesla is usually being generated by coal fired nuclear plants." |
Erik believes that shale and easy money from the Fed saved the world from peak oil, but that it is only a matter of time before we are dealing with rising oil prices again.
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"We're going to get to the point though, where shale, which totally saved the day on the whole peak oil thesis, it will have played out. And the next thing after that is deep water. And the next thing after that is arctic deep water. It keeps getting more expensive. That means that energy will continue to represent a growing percentage of global GDP." |
