Thursday, June 26, 2008

First Eagle manager Eveillard takes dim view of U.S. stocks; favors Japan

The RGE Monitor story (below) hinted at Japan, here Jean-Marie says it out loud. He don't much care for Greenspan either.
From MarketWatch:
Mutual-fund manager Jean-Marie Eveillard is a veteran buyer of value stocks, and when he surveys the global investment landscape nowadays, years of experience make him a cautious shopper.

..."When financial history is written five or 10 years down the road," he added, "Greenspan will be seen as the worst Fed chairman since the Fed was created in 1913."...

...Still, North American firms in general don't really attract Eveillard, who is a native of France and is based in New York. Nowadays he's more interested in putting money into Japanese stocks, which make up 30% of his fund, and Western Europe, where another 30% of assets are committed.

He's also looking closely at the emerging markets of Asia. "The future lies in Asia," he said. "We have to adjust to the fact that that's where the action is going to be."
So later this summer, Eveillard will hear from one of the fund's analysts about potential investments in India.
"We'll get our heads together and try to figure out whether we like some of those businesses and whether the securities are available at reasonable prices....MORE