aus einem anderen Forum, Rick Rule zur Marktlage:
The Doug Casey publications provide a joint weekly update to the subscribers of all of their publications.
This week, they included within the weekly update a newsletter from Rick Rule of Global Resource Investments (http://www.gril.net), a brokerage firm.
The letter from Rick Rule was probably better than anything Dines puts together every 3 weeks.
I'm reprinting just a small portion of it which I think is a must read for anyone on this board:
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
The broad resource markets are in the midst of a classic “wall of worry” correction. Junior markets are collapsing for a variety of very valid reasons.
1) First and foremost, the junior markets as a whole were, and still are, insanely overpriced. Only about 10% of 5000 odd junior companies have any real value, and most of the market players don’t have the ability or the will to discriminate between the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Uranium mania is a classic example of this. In 2000, the price of Uranium as a commodity was very cheap, it had to go up, but because the markets had been dormant for so many years, nobody cared. When the price did go up, people began to care, and after the price had increased enough that it didn’t have to rise further, people became obsessed. By this year, 550 “uranium” companies littered the investment landscape. The vast majority (maybe 500!) shared two serious faults: First, THEY HAD NO URANIUM. If the price of something you don’t have any of rises, it makes no real difference to you. Secondly, after a 25 year “bear market” in uranium, there are perhaps 30 qualified exploration teams left to run 550 companies, (meaning that the probability that an individual company had a qualified team was a function of dividing 30 by 550). There are too many juniors in the market, and the VAST majority are totally valueless. Many of my investment conference colleagues bemoan the degradation of the US dollar by the profligate printing of same by the treasury. The US treasury is an abject failure at printing worthless paper when compared to the Canadian dealer community. The private sector is always more efficient! It is difficult to research and find the one in ten juniors that stand a chance, and more difficult yet to discriminate rationally among the good ones. It is easier for the dealers to create brand new worthless paper, than to sort out the existing paper, and if the market doesn’t discriminate, it is much more profitable.
2) Many important market players were and are incompetent. A twenty year “bear market” in resources has thinned the ranks of competent participants in resource financial services. The professional function of discrimination in resource capital markets has with some exceptions (Global, I hope) has gone largely unfulfilled. The brokers and investment bankers are increasingly “fee whores” rather than gate keepers, and the level of professionalism among many of the large and small institutional investors would be laughable had it not become tragic.
3) The market is liquidity driven. Global flows of liquidity; from the Japanese Central Bank bailout of their finance industry to the US Fed’s destruction of the dollar has left the world awash in cash. The same instinct that spawns a trillion dollar industry devoted to lending mortgage money to people who can’t pay it back in order that they can buy overpriced real estate, is the instinct that finances uranium companies with no uranium, run by people who can’t spell uranium. A bunch of that “dumb money” is going to go to “money heaven”, that is, it will disappear into the same thin air out of which it was created. A good thing of course, unless that “dumb money” was yours. The evaporation of vast quantities of “dumb money” has led to a liquidity crisis, which has damaged liquidity driven markets, and junior resource markets are like most risk markets, generally very illiquid.
4) The market and its participants suffered from irrational expectations. After several years of a raging bull market, participants have come to believe that inordinate success is a condition they have a right to expect. A very famous Canadian investment banker was quoted as saying he “wouldn’t get out of bed for deals less than C$100,000,000”. He should develop insomnia. Investment conference participants explain that they use the maximum margin available, and enquire of the speakers “what do you have that will triple in ninety days?” The correct answer is that the questioners debit balance and tax losses are the most likely near term triples we are aware of. This market has good money left in it, don’t spoil it for yourself with idiotic expectations
5) Many of the “players” are momentum driven. These traders are market players, traders who are often unknowing and unconcerned with industry or company specific fundamentals. Competent traders are good for markets, they add liquidity and if they are canny and disciplined, can make a fortune. But that’s a big “if”. Most of the momentum players are as apt as the fictional husband in our tuna story, and as likely to experience success. They rush into “up” markets, overpaying for instruments they don’t understand, and crowd out of down markets, liquidating the good with the bad.
Every great party results in a great hangover, and this week we all have headaches. The “sorting out” will be painful but profitable. The lessons learned, if learned, will be invaluable. The factors that caused the euphoria in resource markets earlier in the year are still present, they are just available at a discount. We need to learn to profit from cyclicality, not become its victim. We need to cherish volatility, not fear it. We need to remember that there is no commandment from God that says we must emulate the stupidity of the mob. We must use liquidity, and avoid being used by the “fee whores” In essence; we must employ common sense, and buy financial assets on sale.
WHAT DO WE DO NOW?
We have had a “wake up” call. Review the reasons you became a resource investor and/or speculator. Are those reasons still valid in your view? Do you have the emotional strength to be a contrarian, using cyclicality, welcoming volatility, buying panics, and selling rallies? If not, do yourself and your broker a favor, and close your account. If this sector appeals, then use this 6 panic as a slap in the face. Lets review your portfolio, lets sell the securities that are not absolutely “best of breed” in terms of management, balance sheet and asset base. Let's sell even those that are best of breed, if they are well overpriced. Let’s consider making tax loss sales in September and October as the market recovers, so that we can offset gains taken earlier in the year. Let’s be very, very harsh.
Look at your total personal balance sheet. Are you where you need to be, or would like to be? Are you over exposed to resources? Are you overly speculative? Do you have sufficient liquidity? I believe the global central banker’s response to this liquidity crisis will be bad for ALL fiat currencies. As the dollar devalues, I believe others must and will follow. More currency from thin air devalues the existing supply. I think the strong export currencies will fall, these are self correcting mechanisms. I think the Euro zone is sclerotic and it must fall as well. In the short term interest rates are stable to lower in my view, so short dated bonds from high quality issuers are ok. Long debt is insane!
Own some gold. Pray it doesn’t perform! Gold is a medium of exchange, the best in recorded history, and a store of value. Gold is also catastrophe insurance. Own it first as insurance. Speculate on then high quality gold stocks, buying panics, and if you like, selling rallies. We will help you discriminate.
Own only “best of breed” base metals stocks. While base metals prices are not high by historical standards, the industry is enjoying excellent operating margins, supplies will increase, and consumer utility is diminished by this pricing environment. Projects in the lowest cost quartile worldwide will perform for you. Chasing the marginal producers to maximize returns in commodity up cycles is a strategy to employ at the bottom of the next “bear market”, not now. Own energy. Conventional oil and gas is reasonably priced, given the supply\demand balance. Again, focus on “best of breed” not “story stocks”; buy on a net enterprise value to net asset value basis, and buy corporate efficiency, based on operating margins and reserve acquisition efficiency. Speculate on the junior Canadian gas producers… this is cheap tuna, and know that the play will take two to three years to work out.
Know when you buy a stock, why you bought it, why you will sell it, and when and under what conditions that might occur. If you have analyzed the situation correctly, and the stock has reacted accordingly, sell. If the reason you own a stock becomes invalid, sell. If a company adds value that is not reflected in the market, buy.
Remember, whether we like these conditions or not is not relevant. We can use these markets or be used by them, and the choice is ours! It is my current intention to continue to publish these missives, even though I don’t have the time. If this is of value, tell your Global broker. If it isn’t, relay that information as well so I can get back to work. If you think this missive has some utility to a friend or colleague, feel free to forward it, with credit to ourselves. If your experience with Global has been valuable to you, and you think that your friends might benefit from our services, we would appreciate any referrals you thought appropriate.
Rick Rule
Global Resource Investments Ltd.
Terra Resource Investment Management, Inc.
7770 El Camino Real
Carlsbad, CA 92009
Member FINRA/SIPC
800-477-7853
760 943-3939