Niall Ferguson: 6 Big Questions for the Post-Western World

The Contrary Investing Report

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The West and the Rest: Our Slight Depression in Historical Perspective Niall Ferguson, 2012 Agora Financial Investment Symposium Niall Ferguson led off the symposium began by lamenting that just 23 years ago, it all seemed so simple. It was the summer of 1989, he reminded us, when Francis Fukuyama famously proclaimed “The End of History,” […]

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Rick Rule, 2012 Agora Financial Investment Symposium “Rockstar” resource investing guru Rick Rule took the stage for the challenging “Happy Hour” time slot to cap off the first day.  No slides needed, Rule went straight off the cuff. He joked that while he enjoyed the previous biotech presentations, it reminded him why he limits himself […]

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Platypus Rex: End Times Investment Wisdom for the Duck Billed Dan Denning, 2012 Agora Financial Investment Symposium Dan Denning, Editor of The Daily Reckoning Australia, believes 2012 is a lot like 2007, but with more denial. The risk in the system has been transferred from the periphery (bad mortgages) into the core (US Treasuries) – which […]

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This week Contrary Investing is coming to you LIVE from Vancouver, Canada, with coverage from the 13th annual Agora Financial Investment Symposium! Stay tuned this week for write ups on the presentations from Niall Ferguson, Rick Rule, Marc Faber, Michael Covel, Doug Casey, Barry Ritholtz, and more.

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I was thrilled to be able to crash a presentation on Thursday from Martin Barnes, Chief Economist at BCA, who swung into town to present his outlook on the global economy and financial markets to the CFA Society of Sacramento. BCA produces highly regarded research that is priced at a premium, so this was a […]

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Here’s a great 15-minute Jim Chanos interview, where he discusses the psychology of short selling, and of course, China. If you’re philosophically inclined, you’re really going to enjoy the intro.  Chanos explains why the majority of life, including financial news and reporting, is a silent drumbeat of positive reinforcement (study hard, get good grades, get […]

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We’ve discussed the pitfalls of investing in gold mining shares at length before.  The junior miners are generally a sucker’s bet unless you know management (as we were fortunate to in the case of AuEx Ventures).  And the larger miners have an inflation problem.  Gold has been going up, but so has their input costs. […]

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Another good Jim Rogers interview courtesy of our friends at Hard Assets Investor.  Jim shared that he is currently short stocks – in particular emerging markets and Europe: Ludwig: What are you short right now? Rogers: I’m short stocks. Ludwig: Is that a broad type of shorting—say, index—or are you short particular sectors? Rogers: Broad-brush strokes—ETFs—like […]

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by Carl Swenlin The Rydex Cash Flow Ratio gives an improved view of sentiment extremes by using cumulative cash flow (CCFL) into Rydex mutual funds rather than using the totals of assets in those funds (which we use for the Rydex Asset Ratio). It is calculated by dividing Money Market plus Bear Funds CCFL by Bull […]

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Thanks at least partly to contrary investing legend Gordon “Goldfinger” Brown, who sold 395 tons (60%) of the UK’s gold reserves between 1999 and 2002 for a whopping average price of $275 per pound (Wikipedia), central banks have been known as contrary indicators on gold. With the masters of the universe now beginning to load […]

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