Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Leading Economic Advisor Says Barbells Are Best Portfolios

Mohamed El-Erian,chief economic advisor at Allianz,says he has a barbell investment strategy for the current conditions.It consists of cash and then more high risk exposures to startups and hedge funds,because the most highly trafficked part of the risk-return is the public markets.Why? Because the Fed has been pushing everybody to the public markets,pushing up market prices.So if you look at long-term valuation,it makes more sense to become bar-belled and reduce your exposure to the most heavily trafficked and artificially lifted asset prices.That's why there's this barbell of cash and then hedge funds,startups and illiquids-and that's what a lot of investors are starting to do,by the way.
As long as we don't get the Fed fundamentals,we are more at risk of not validating the higher asset prices.At some point,you have to hand off to investing in equipment and hiring.I still think the Fed is going to raise rates in September.They're going to focus on this,the loosest tightening the Fed has ever done.*
Will the ECB pull the plug on Greece? No,because no one wants to go down in history as having done it.My greatest worry is,we get an accident in that world.The chance that Greece is pushed out of the Euro-zone is quite material.The fundamentals all call for a stronger dollar.In the short term,a Greek exit will shock the market.Long-term,it doesn't matter much.Take equity exposure to Europe,but not euro currency exposure,Mr.El-Erian advised.*
Mohamed El-Erian was born in Cairo,Egypt.He was manager of the Harvard Endowment,then co-CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO with Bill Gross before they had a falling out.Eventually,Gross himself was fired by the company he co-founded and went over to Morgan Stanley.*
Morgan Stanley (MS),Allianz SE SP/ADR (AZSEY)

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