In the latest episode of the Marketplace Roundtable Podcast, Eric Basmajian of EPB Macro Research explains the workings of his unique macro-driven approach to investing and reads the current macro tea leaves. His underlying thesis: Spiraling debt is starting to take a real toll on current and future U.S. growth prospects. He concludes with some actionable recommendations for sectors he likes and sectors to avoid based his his macro thesis.
Topics covered
2:45 - Description of macro-driven process, key indicators
6:00 - 3 key time frames underlying Eric's models
10:15 - How much intuition is required in reading the output of the economic models?
16:00 - The U.S.' spiraling debt and what that means for the outlook for U.S. economic growth
26:30 - The primary driver of the "Japan-ification" of Europe and the U.S. - Demographics vs. Debt
30:15 - Does China's more "stable" political system promote better economic policy and more productive debt?
35:45 - Portfolio strategy: Eric's favorite sectors: Utilities (XLU) and REITs (VNQ) on the equity side, long-term Treasuries (TLT) in fixed income
41:00 - Eric's least favorite sector: Regional banks (KRE)
44:15 - Is it finally a good time to be buying emerging markets?
