market folly

Hot off our post with market strategist Don Coxe's 'Basic Points' newsletter for March, we're here with his April edition. If you're unfamiliar with Coxe, he's a noted market commentator and has a very large following due to the many good points he often brings up. Coxe is an agricultural bull and has additionally focused a lot on commodities. In fact, Coxe shares a lot of views with noted investor Jim Rogers (whose portfolio we've also covered on the blog here). We've also covered Coxe's recent question & answer session here if you want some more insight as to his thought process and investment theses.

The entire Basic Points presentation is presented below in slide-deck form, but for those of you who want a quick summary and the highlights, here's what you need to know:

Coxe still believes that commodities will be the true winners and will outperform on a relative basis. While he is bullish on the commods, he has been disappointed by the performance in gold due to the sales by the IMF, the strong dollar, and the banking crisis as there is a flight to safety. Coxe still feels that inflationary fears will return at some point, at which Gold will return to its solid position. He also mentions copper specifically, noting the massive run-up it has seen recently. And, he cautions investors from adding to base metals here, as the economy still has real problems ahead and these metals are due for a pullback. We here at Market Folly have highlighted this very issue of base metals as a leading indicator. We've said all along that copper is due for a pullback and it is what happens after that pullback that will truly tell us if the economy is beginning to show some signs of stabilization.

Coxe also cautions investors that they'll have plenty of opportunities to buy American equities and to not rush the process. His best advice is to slowly accumulate positions in the names you want to own when a bull market returns. The sudden "return of optimism" in the markets is premature by his accounts and we still have some problems to work off before we can truly recover. Along this line of thought, he warns investors from being enticed by long-term bonds and their steep yield curves. While these instruments may be havens of safety for now, those who avoid the yields now will benefit from performance later on down the road. This is along the lines of what Jim Rogers has said as well, as he wants to be short the long-term treasuries again at some point, which we noted when we summarized Rogers' recent portfolio. (Rogers also shares some of Coxe's other viewpoints, including his bullish prospects on agriculture). While Coxe is cautious on the economy in the near-term, he notes that when that recovery does take place, he is seeing signs that technology and commodities will be the new leaders.

In terms of specific sectors, Coxe also focuses in on refiners (and also the Oil Sands plays) as he feels the refiners can do well in the current environment where Americans are driving a little less. His argument for the oil sands is that you are essentially buying production of oil from the year 2020 at very cheap levels and they will make great long-term investments.

Overall, Coxe is sticking with many of his main investment theses and just elaborating on what he is seeing in the current market environment. And now to the actual slide deck of Coxe's April 2009 edition of Basic Points:

(RSS & Email readers may need to come to the blog to view the slide-deck)