MATTHEW MCLENNAN

Portfolio Manager, First Eagle Global Fund

A viewer recently wrote us and asked how many of our last four WEALTHTRACKguests were bullish, the inference being they all were. Until now we really haven’t been counting, but we looked back and found that the last outright bull on WEALTHTRACK was back in October when Francois Trahan, Chief Investment Strategist at Cornerstone Macro was on. He and his firm are bullish on the U.S. economy and U.S. stock markets because of many factors, including the steady nature of our economic recovery, the revolution in oil and gas production and our manufacturing renaissance.

For the record, this week’s guest is not in the bullish camp!

Matthew McLennan is head of First Eagle Investment Management’s Global Value Team, and Co-Portfolio Manager of its flagship First Eagle Global fund, a position he assumed in late 2008 from investment legend, Jean-Marie Eveillard.

The now $50 billion plus fund is rated four- star by Morningstar and over the last 5 years, with McLennan on board is ranked in the top 10% of its world allocation category.

First Eagle is known for its value-oriented, margin of safety approach and making preservation of capital its first investment goal.  As McLennan’s team put it in a recent letter to clients, “…we always keep a watchful eye on what can go wrong, not what is going right.”

What can go wrong?

McLennan is monitoring a long list of potential problems including:

• The unprecedented easing policies by central banks around the world, which are keeping interest rates at historic lows, policies known as “financial repression”. 

• The simultaneous record breaking rise in government debt in the U.S. and much of the developed world.

• The convergence of rising incomes and demand from emerging markets with slowing income gains and increasing income disparity in developed markets. 

Then there are the geopolitical flare-ups: tensions in Ukraine, the rise of ISIS, China’s economic and military aggression.

What’s at the top of McLennan’s “what could go wrong list”, and how is it affecting his investment outlook and strategy?  We’ll find out!

If you’d like to see the show before it airs, it is available to our PREMIUM subscribers right now.  We also have an EXTRA interview with McLennan, available exclusively on our website.

If you have comments or questions, please do connect with us via Facebook or Twitter.

Have a great weekend and make the week ahead a profitable and a productive one.

Best regards,

Consuelo

BE A PATIENT INVESTOR

• Time is on your side
• Don’t be afraid to wait for better opportunities and prices

No Bookshelf titles this week.

OUT OF FAVOR HEDGE

Fresnillo PLC (FRES) London Stock Exchange Price: GBP 770.00 on 12/10 52-week range: GBP658.00 – GBP1,037.00

Microsoft Corp (MSFT)

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Oracle Corporation (ORCL)

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National Oilwell Varco Inc (NOV)

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MATT MCLENNAN: THE “MIRAGE” RECOVERY

Posted on September 27, 2013

Is the financial crisis really over? Are we in danger of another one? In a recent speech, Hank Paulson, the Secretary of the Treasury during the crisis said yes, we are still in danger and that “there are a number of issues that trouble and in some cases flabbergast me.” Our guest this week, Matthew McLennan, is in complete agreement.   WATCH NOW…

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REDISCOVERED FINANCIAL GIANTS

Next generation “Great Investor” Matthew McLennan, Head of First Eagle investment Management’s Value Team and co-portfolio manager of the First Eagle Global Fund is an avid student of history and financial history. I asked him what has been reading recently that was of particular interest. His recommendations take us back to two of the financial and economic giants of the 18th century, Irish born, entrepreneur and economist Richard Cantillon and Scottish-born economic theorist and policy-maker John Law.