A rare interview with Cornerstone Macro’s Investment Strategist, François Trahan, who has once again been named the number one ranked strategist on Wall Street by Institutional Investor magazine, as he has been for eight of the last ten years. Trahan has been a stock market bull since the fall of 2011, Still Bullish when the recovery and the markets looked very dicey. Since then he has stuck to his guns and the market has proven him right. What’s his view now? Despite faltering growth in much of the world, rising geopolitical risks and the U.S. stock markets regularly flirting with record highs, he says the U.S. bull market still has several years to run. He’ll explain why.
RECENT PROGRAMS
LAZAR: U.S. COMEBACK
How many times have you heard that China is on its way to surpassing the United States as the main driver of world economic growth? This week’ s guest says not so fast – growth dynamics are changing and the widely forecast new world order is returning to the old world order. Top rated economist, Nancy Lazar explains why the U.S. has resumed its role as the driver of global economic growth and China is lagging.
BERKOWITZ: POWERFUL FINANCIALS?
This week we have a rare interview with Bruce Berkowitz of The Fairholme Fund. Launched at the height of the tech bubble in late 1999, The Fairholme Fund has been the top performer in Morningstar’s Large Value category since inception, delivering 13% annualized returns and beating its nearest competitor by a margin of 2.4% points a year. Berkowitz believes in “ignoring the crowd”. He’ll explain why nearly 80% of his portfolio is in four financial stocks shunned by most investors.
JENKINS & MAGNUSEN: ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS
Worried about the stock and bond markets? Are alternative investments the solution? Alternatives, such as hedge funds now come in a liquid mutual fund form so they can be bought and sold daily on an exchange. They are regulated and transparent, so you know what they own – and the fees are considerably less than hedge funds. Most are available to average individual investors. These Liquid Alternative funds have taken off – their assets have increased ten fold since 2005. Lipper’s Robert Jenkins and Altegris Advisors’ Lara Magnusen discuss the risks and rewards of alternative investments.
JENKINS & MAGNUSEN: ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS
Worried about the stock and bond markets? Are alternative investments the solution? Alternatives, such as hedge funds now come in a liquid mutual fund form so they can be bought and sold daily on an exchange. They are regulated and transparent, so you know what they own – and the fees are considerably less than hedge funds. Most are available to average individual investors. These Liquid Alternative funds have taken off – their assets have increased ten fold since 2005. Lipper’s Robert Jenkins and Altegris Advisors’ Lara Magnusen discuss the risks and rewards of alternative investments.
Darst & Kaplan: Portfolio Changes
With the stock market trading near record highs should investors adjust their portfolios? David Darst and Jay Kaplan say yes! Darst is an independent investment consultant and Senior Advisor and member of the Global Investment Committee at Morgan Stanley. He is also the author of 11 books, including two on mastering the art of asset allocation. Kaplan is portfolio manager of several funds run by small cap pioneer, The Royce Funds, which is known for its value orientation and high quality company focus. We’ll get their personal perspectives on market valuations.