Hugh Hendry, the eloquent and outspoken CIO, Eclectica Asset Management, in an appearance on CNBC's PowerLunch (Dec. 10) shares his thoughts on agriculture commodities stocks such as Potash, and Syngenta.
Among other things, Hendry makes a forthright confession that he was wrong earlier this year to make the call to be long commodities stocks. He continues on to say that when he realized he was wrong, he promptly sold them too. Hendry runs a long-only Agriculture fund, as well as his primary hedge fund, and has been controversial in some of his choices to oppose his funds'Ā mandates at times in favour of cash or government securities.
His main quid pro quo is his caution that although commodity stocksĀ could revisit highs, we could be waiting as many as 10 years for it. Its a must watch.
In a 7-minute segment earlier the same day, Hendry discussed the idea that as the financial crisis deepens, civil liberties are curtailed by governments eager to put an end to falls in share prices and economies. This is an insightful discussion, a must-watch.
"The government has gone to war, it is an economic war. And in a war the government takes a larger and larger role in the society. That's fine, you have to accept that," Hendry said. "What is concerning is the erosion of civil liberties."
The ban on short-selling financial securities in the UK is one example of erosion of civil liberties, another is a statement made in parliament last week which opens the way to silencing the press during financial crises.
The Treasury Select Committee said that it will look at the role of the media in financial stability and whether financial journalists "should operate under any form of reporting restrictions during banking crises".
"We're only a year into this and suddenly, already, our liberties are being brought back, brought in," Hendry said.
