Episodes

Beware the Market's 'Expectations Bubble'

Episode #375 | August 19, 2024

Episode #375 | August 19, 2024

Beware the Market's 'Expectations Bubble'

In This Episode

On this week's Stansberry Investor Hour, Dan and Corey welcome Bob Elliott back to the show. Bob is the co-founder, chief investment officer, and CEO of Unlimited. The investment firm uses machine learning to replicate the index returns of hedge funds, venture capital, and private equity. Bob explores a wide range of topics in the podcast, from counteracting inflation with certain investments to the worsening future of globalization.

Bob kicks off the show by talking about the importance of holding yourself accountable with investing and about bonds in relation to the Federal Reserve's next moves. Many investors are expecting an aggressive rate-cutting cycle, but as Bob points out, the Fed may not live up to those expectations. He also discusses the flaws of the 60/40 portfolio in today's market, why you should hold gold as part of your portfolio, and two primary factors that could contribute to a long-term inflationary environment. Bob notes...

Through 2020, we had the lowest number of deaths in global conflicts per capita as we'd had basically in 1,500 years... [Now] it's like a war in Ukraine, a war in Gaza, a war in Mali. It's like war, war, war, war. And that is important because wars are inflationary no matter how you look at it... The probabilities are tilted toward more conflict ahead, and certainly the momentum is in that direction.

Next, Bob explores ways to properly balance your portfolio to preserve wealth and minimize volatility. This leads to a conversation about Treasury inflation-protected securities. Bob describes why they're a better investment today than they were a few years ago and what gives them an edge over nominal bonds. After, he discusses the supply-and-demand imbalance in natural resources, oil's supply sensitivity versus precious metals, and the green-energy movement...

Despite a lot of negative commentary about fracking and new oil supply coming on line, the reality is U.S. oil supply is basically at all-time highs right now... It lifts the bottom level of oil prices considerably. It sets sort of a floor on productive supply because of regulatory considerations [and] infrastructure considerations that basically have to be responsive to environmental concerns.

Finally, Bob makes his case for investing in natural resource companies and warns listeners about roll costs when trading in the futures market. He then talks from a macro perspective about productivity in relation to AI. As he explains, AI has not yet led to large productivity advances like we saw with the advent of the personal computer...

With framing technological innovation and having the right perspective with technological innovation, the question is not: "Does it help?" The question is: "Is it accelerating your productivity at a rate that is meaningfully faster than all the innovations that happened before?"