Very few places for investors to hide concludes Agora event

Posted on 29 July 2011 with 3 comments from readers

Global investors presently have very few options open to them to make money and preserving wealth is the top priority in the current environment, not making it.

That was the broad conclusion to the Agora Financial conference in Vancouver this year. Gold hit a fresh all-time high of $1,632 as this comment was written.

Silver popular choice

Precious metals are still a popular choice for Agora investors and silver is the wild card for higher absolute gains but greater volatility on the way. Outside of gold and silver there is little enthusiasm for US stocks, real estate or bonds.

Agora star stock picker Chris Mayer got some of the biggest laughs in his presentation highlighting the foibles of Wall Street and the Federal Reserve but generally the mood of the conference was rather downbeat.

Veteran newsletter editor Doug Casey spoke about terrorism and avoided talking about investments almost entirely. He thought it was ‘getting a bit later in the day’ for investors to get money out of the US which is likely to close up with capital controls very soon.

It was a bit like being in a hospital waiting to hear the outcome of a long and complicated operation and being unsure whether the patient would live or die, and expecting the worst.

Of course the US will never die but its economy is in seriously deep trouble. The inflation drug is not working except to prevent a deeper coma. But will the side-effects kill the patient?

It is all deeply worrying and there is nothing much anybody can do. The same sad story applies to the euro zone, the UK and Japan, and the Arab Spring leaves many parts of the Middle East deep recession. China is also in trouble.

You only have pockets of opportunity. Canada looks OK. So does Australia really. The Swiss franc is very strong as well as these two currencies.

UAE and Qatar

In the Middle East the UAE and Qatar are safe havens that are profiting from the inflation of oil and gas prices by central bank money printing of global central banks. The Pearl Qatar, an artificial offshore island development off Doha, is pictured above.

Many Agora delegates were intrigued by the presentation by ArabianMoney editor and publisher Peter Cooper on how the UAE bourse offers great value today.

Another speaker flagged up Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia and Haiti as other frontier markets that are worthy of long-term investments. Mr Cooper could only point out the idiocy of including the UAE as a frontier market with its per capita income ahead of the US while these other nations are chronically poor.

Still you really do have to search hard for investment opportunities today. That clearly is going to benefit precious metals most as a safe haven with limited supply and seemingly limitless upside potential as everybody crowds into this asset class.