Getting Your Assets Kicked?

Pick an asset, any asset - they are all getting kicked. One of the troubles I had with investments for the last year is that almost every investment asset class was highly valued, if not overvalued. Gold, Industrial Metals, Oil, Real Estate, US Equities, International Equities and some portions of the yield curve were pretty lofty. Now we have a situation where they are all declining at the same time and you have very few choices to park your money. Mattresses almost look like the best place, but in reality, I expect that the most likely receptacle for all this capital is US Treasuries. We were finally coming out of Greenspan’s “conundrum” and now, a return to a flattening yield curve and at the worst case, another inversion seems probable. I have no clue how long it will last but my guess is that the first opportunity to put money back to work and we will be hearing a lot about money on the sidelines. If you play with fixed income, I hope you have a very strong stomach. The volatility of debt instruments is tough under any circumstances but it’s going to get ridiculous if money comes in and out every time we have a love or hate relationship with other asset classes.