True Contrarian by Steven Jon Kaplan

A true contrarian look at investing and at life in general.	Back Issue List
Updated @ 10:15 p.m. EDT, Sunday, May 3, 2009.

NEW: 4-hour, 2-DVD video of the April 23-24, 2009 True Contrarian conference

WELCOME TO TRUE CONTRARIAN! I will attempt to create an entertaining, readable, and hopefully refreshing viewpoint a few times each month. Each issue will feature my intermediate-term financial outlook, my long-term financial outlook, and a personal reminiscence.

Most people know that global government stimulus is highly inflationary--but since they haven't recently personally experienced high inflation, they can't emotionally picture it actually happening. For the same reason, people couldn't envision last year's stock-market collapse. --Steven Jon Kaplan

GOLD MINING SHARES REMAIN SUBSTANTIALLY UNDERVALUED, AND COULD TRIPLE BEFORE THE END OF 2009 (May 3, 2009): While most global equity indices have rebounded strongly since my very bullish update of March 8, 2009, while my recommended energy funds like KOL, RSX, and FCG have done astonishingly well, one sector has remained barely changed in price since December 2008. This sector is gold mining shares and their funds including GDX.

Investors are finally beginning to realize that absurd media hype about a "deflationary depression" made as much sense as more recent hysteria about a massive global "swine flu epidemic". As the worldwide recession has begun to moderate, this has led to a powerful recovery for stock markets around the world.

What most investors still fail to appreciate is that during any major recession, governments worldwide will create short-term stimulus packages as a popular political ploy. These packages are inherently inflationary. Even during relatively moderate past recessions such as 1973-1983, government stimulus packages led to double-digit inflation almost everywhere.

Now that we have both a much more severe global economic contraction than we ever experienced in the 1970s and 1980s, combined with government stimulus plans from practically every country that are enormously higher in inflation-adjusted terms than they have ever been in the past, the only question is when inflation will exceed 10% in developed markets including the United States. In my opinion, that day is not imminent, but will surely happen within the next decade--probably in about five or six years.

Meanwhile, in 2009, we will soon see the early signs of a major worldwide inflationary surge. 30-year fixed mortgage rates in the U.S. and Canada will likely exceed 8% later in 2009, as will bank CD rates. What is more important, very few people are anticipating such a rapid rise in these yields, which ensures that they will have a profound impact just as any "shocking, shocking" development always has on the financial markets.

From a psychological point of view, if anything has not occurred for about twenty years or longer, most people cannot emotionally envision that it could happen. In 2007-2008, even though we had obvious signs of a worldwide economic meltdown, people could not imagine a stock-market crash--since it had not occurred recently. Since we have not had massive worldwide inflation since the early 1980s, then even if people understand why inflation is likely to surge higher, they can't psychologically bring themselves to prepare for it. Many others have simply forgotten that we had double-digit inflation in the U.S. and 30-year fixed mortgage rates which exceeded 13% at least once each year every year from 1980 through 1985--and which moved above 18% briefly in 1981. As George Satayana wisely said, those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.

Gold mining shares are the single best performing equity sector when the anticipation of higher inflation is the most pressing concern of the average investor. TLT is a fund of U.S. Treasuries averaging 25 years to maturity, which has plummeted from a multi-decade U.S. Treasury peak on December 30, 2008. This is serving as a reliable indicator that the world's wealthiest investors have been progressively shifting their expectations from deflation to inflation for more than four months. The U.S. dollar index has been declining for two months after it had soared to a three-year zenith on March 4, 2009.

Now is a rare opportunity to take advantage of nearly the only sector in the equity market which has remained essentially unchanged in price since December 2008. This sector is also fundamentally undervalued: gold is currently at $887 spot while GDX closed Friday at 33.04. Last year, when gold was at exactly the same price, GDX averaged slightly more than 46 dollars per share. Because energy prices and other costs are generally lower now than they were then, this means that while profit margins have expanded, share prices have declined. This creates an unusual bargain opportunity for a sector which has seen more than its share of sharp vertical price increases in past decades--and even just since the year 2000.

Buying GDX is far superior to purchasing physical gold, since it will rise about three percent for each one-percent gain in the price of gold. Of course, there's no free lunch; the potential downside is similarly greater. However, since physical gold buying from India has emerged each time that gold has moved below $900 per troy ounce in 2009, this likely indicates that any remaining downside for precious metals in the near future is strictly limited. Once inflationary fears become paramount, gold mining shares will be among the top-performing sectors and GDX will be set to approximately triple by autumn.

DAILY SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE AVAILABLE:
I am currently offering a daily e-mail subscription service at a rate of $149.50 (U.S. dollars) for one year, or $50 for three months. Should you subscribe, I will send you an e-mail every business day, and a special weekly review on Sunday, giving specific timely buy/sell recommendations, as well as long-term guidelines for money management. I will send a special intraday update whenever I buy or sell anything in my own account. I will also respond to all e-mail questions that you may have regarding my daily updates. Payment can be made through PayPal, credit card, money order, or check, whichever you prefer. Your e-mail address will not be given to any other person or organization under any circumstances.

Please Take Me to the Subscription Page

NEW: 4-hour, 2-DVD video of the April 23-24, 2009 True Contrarian conference

Overview of Gold Mining Shares, updated substantially on November 9, 2008 to show precisely how precious metals shares have completed important six-year bottoms.

Learn more about Steven Jon Kaplan and watch a live interview on MarketWatch.

Jewelry Auction-Live Bullion Quotes ==>

INVESTORS ARE IGNORING NUMEROUS POSITIVE EQUITY DIVERGENCES (March 8, 2009): There are numerous positive divergences in the global equity markets which are pointing the way toward the strongest short-term stock-market rally since the Great Depression. Let's examine each of them to more fully understand their profound significance.

The first and most important divergence is the recent collapse in government bonds worldwide, including U.S. Treasuries. Long-dated U.S. Treasuries, such as the fund TLT, have been collapsing since they completed a historic peak on December 30, 2008. Very few individuals trade Treasuries; this sector is primarily the domain of major institutions and pension funds. The flight out of Treasuries represents a decisive shift away from safety toward risk and signifies a clear rejection of the "deflationary depression" hypothesis. If the global economy were really set for a major contraction, money would be flowing into government bonds instead of out of them. Therefore, the global economy is set for a major expansion.

Another important divergence is the U.S. dollar index recently forming a pattern of several lower daily highs after having reached a three-year zenith. During times of economic stagnation, the greenback is a nearly perfect inverse indicator: when the U.S. dollar is rising, this indicates that the global economy is contracting, and vice versa. The fact that the U.S. dollar index has been starting to move tentatively lower shows that the most knowledgeable global traders are beginning to position themselves in favor of economic expansion--thus confirming the message of global government bonds.

Yet another divergence can be seen in the strong performance of global commodity-producing shares since October/November 2008. Gold mining shares have more than doubled in value since October 24, 2008, as can be seen in a chart of GDX and similar gold mining funds. As the most reliable harbinger of upcoming inflation and growth, this doubling indicates that increased global growth and rising inflation will be the major themes of 2009. Other commodity-share funds have been forming bullish patterns of higher lows, including KOL (coal mining) and more recently RSX (Russian shares). Russia's economy is very heavily based upon commodity production, and therefore the recent relative strength in RSX is similarly signifying that both inflation and growth will be important global themes in 2009.

High-yield corporate bonds have been forming a bullish pattern of higher lows since the first half of December 2008. While obtaining credit is still far from easy, lenders are much more willing and able to supply capital today than had been the case three months ago. Nearly all corporate-bond sectors have been choppily improving over this period of time, as have municipal bonds. As with government bonds, these are primarily traded by institutions and pension funds; the most knowledgeable investors are signaling that the most distressed period has already passed for obtaining borrowed money.

Implied volatility indices including VXO and VIX remain near 50, which is historically more than twice its average level, but which is far below the extreme readings of 80-90 that were seen in October 2008. Investors are becoming so accustomed to falling stock prices that an increasing number of surveys are showing more investors anticipating an additional 25% decline in the stock market than are expecting a 25% increase. This is among the most negative survey results ever recorded, and is in sharp contrast to the outlook in 1999-2000 when investors routinely anticipated annualized gains of 30% lasting for a decade or more. When so many average participants are gloomy, the only possible resolution is a powerful worldwide equity rally.

As a result of these and similar positive divergences, I am anticipating that the next half year will experience the most dramatic short-term global equity rally since the Great Depression.

FINALLY, A SINCERE THANK YOU to Barron's for featuring me on page 50 of their November 19, 2007 issue, and then again on February 25, 2008 (page M14) and June 2, 2008 (page 41), as well as August 25, 2008 (page 32).

CURRENT ASSET ALLOCATION (fully marked to market on May 3, 2009): My own personal funds are currently allocated as follows: LONG POSITIONS: Gold mining funds GDX, ASA, BGEIX, INIVX, 41.4%; Japanese smallcap funds DFJ, SCJ, JSC, JOF, SPJSX, 8.9%; Global equity fund VIDMX, 8.6%; Coal mining fund KOL, 8.4%; Energy closed-end fund PEO, 6.8%; General-equity closed-end funds ADX, CET, 4.4%; Russian fund RSX, 4.0%; Natural-gas fund FCG, 2.0%; Natural-gas futures fund UNG, 2.0%; High-yield BB corporate bond fund VWEHX, 1.8%; Municipal bond fund MYJ, 1.1%; Crude-oil futures fund USO, 1.0%; TBT, 0.5%; VINIX, 0.3%; VIEIX, 0.3%; TRBCX, 0.3%; KRE, 0.3%; XRT, 0.3%; VZ, 0.3%; TRI, 1.6% (bought at a 15% discount); gold and silver coins and related metals collectibles, 4.2%; other collectibles, 0.4%; Vanguard Municipal Money Market Fund VMSXX, 0.7%; Putnam Stable Value Fund (retirement fund with stable principal paying variable interest), 0.4%; SHORT POSITIONS: None; covered ALL of them in October 2008 which had amounted to just over half of my entire net worth.

REMINISCENCE OF THE WEEK (May 3, 2009): Earlier this month, I hosted my first True Contrarian conference. One of the features was touring New York City, which included walking on the boardwalk at Brighton Beach. We also stood on the front deck of the ferry from Manhattan to Staten Island and back, passing by the Statue of Liberty. As our group of thirty disembarked in Manhattan, carrying our conference bags, one middle-aged Staten Island fellow confronted the person who happened to be in front of our group and who was leading the way forward. It was not myself who was fated to face this inquisitor--but a bright young man named Martin. "What kind of group is this?" challenged the local Staten Island fellow, who appeared to be rather red in the face and excited about something. "We're part of a financial conference," Martin responded. The fellow turned angrier, and retorted, "Oh, so you're the ones who messed everything else up for the rest of us!" Martin began to respond, but the fellow continued, "Don't you think we should do something for the little guy in manufacturing who can't get a break?" Martin, who works for an oil refinery, immediately blurted, "I'm in manufacturing myself." The fellow brightened noticeably and said in a much calmer voice, "In that case, maybe you folks are okay, as long as you keep guys like us in mind and try to get us back working again the way things used to be." I'm not sure that we true contrarians can save the world, but at least we can try to help this fellow and those like him make the most of the money they have been able to save.