-I finished Opportunities in Emerging Markets by Gordian Gaeta (2013), which basically lays out the case for investing in those economies and ideas on how to do it. The first third largely reads like a textbook, and then loosens up a bit with chapters written by investment managers who focus on these locales. An interesting tidbit is that higher private equity flows into a developing market are often a precursor to future stock market growth for the country. Which, of course, speaks to the fact that a functioning and liquid stock market is also an important player in a country’s growth prospects. The advantages of these markets are faster growth, favorable demographics, healthier sovereign balance sheets, movement towards global integration, attractive market valuations, inefficient markets, and lower correlation to the rest of the world. As a generalization, investing in resource rich economies is a good idea. If I ever taught a class on the subject of frontier markets, I would probably include this book on the reading list.
-With the return of my leg injury, and no more running for a while, I am embracing the swimming pool again. Except, whereas last time I lost motivation, I am now paying someone to coach me through “training” for the swim portion of a triathlon. Hopefully I will do a better job of sticking with it and making it a permanent part of my future workout life.
-I fear trying to call a bottom in anything these days, but today’s piece out of the Casey group spoke of continued long term optimism for gold, but a greater sense that the bottom was not yet in. When the biggest gold bulls are acting cautious, is that what capitulation kind of looks like?
