Embark with us on a financial expedition through Asian markets. We are joined by Dr. James Thorne of Wellington-Altus Private Wealth, who guides us through a landscape rich with both promise and peril.

We evaluate how Japan's strategic regional alliance with the U.S. and Australia, plus the sustained market reform tailwind from the Three Arrows of Abenomics, opens up new investment opportunities with Japanese firms. We also briefly consider India’s opportunities.

We consider, by contrast, how China’s Communist Party ideology, plus China-U.S. trade and technology tensions, has limited the returns investors can reap from investing in Chinese stocks.

We then turn to Taiwan, whose Taiwan Semiconductor fabricates many of the world’s most advanced chips, including those supporting the new world of AI.

As tensions simmer across the Taiwan Strait, we align with the view that outright warfare is an unlikely prospect—yet the specter of conflict looms, with potential to unsettle markets worldwide.

We scrutinize Taiwan’s informal
regional security alliances and the strategic prowess of Taiwan's defenses, which stand as a bulwark against aggression.

Beyond the immediate horizon, we ponder Asia's broader geopolitical and economic risks, the potential for internal upheaval within China, and the ramifications of debt entanglement among global superpowers.

Join Clem Miller and Steve Davenport, alongside Dr. Thorne, as we navigate the intricate interplay of military might, economic interconnectedness, and the catalysts that could ignite a shift in the Asia-Pacific region.

Straight Talk for All - Nonsense for None


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https://skepticsguidetoinvesting.buzzsprout.com

Embark on an expansive journey to travel through the economic and political landscape of Europe and the Middle East, including a foray into energy geopolitics, with the esteemed Dr. James Thorne and our seasoned co-hosts Clem Miller and Steve Davenport.

We reflect on how the Russian invasion of Ukraine cut off the supply of cheap energy to European industries, damaging their competitiveness, and upended global energy markets.

We highlight North America’s emergent status as an energy superpower. We illuminate the importance of cheap electricity—not just for households but as a catalyst propelling cutting-edge technologies, namely AI.

We consider investment opportunities with globally oriented European stocks.

We also consider prospects within the oil services sector, the increased demand for uranium as an alternative fuel source, and the potential boon for the defense industry as Western militaries rebuild their weapons supplies.

Last, we broaden our discussion by confronting the burgeoning debt levels and higher bond yields that shadow Western economies, the role of China and Japan in holding such debt, and the potential long-term financial repercussions of such heavy debt loads.

Straight Talk for All - Nonsense for None


Please check out our other podcasts:

https://skepticsguidetoinvesting.buzzsprout.com

In this episode, Clem Miller and Steve Davenport address a key investor question: Just how actionable is the economists’ and strategists’ standard playbook of intense “Fed Watching”?

Steve and Clem challenge the myopic view, reinforced by business media, that somehow the Fed is an all-seeing puppeteer controlling U.S. and global financial markets.

Steve and Clem point out that for investors to make any money on Fed decisions depends on their being able to make quick macro trades on non-consensus views on inflation rates and employment. And even then, the chances of success are minimal.

Steve and Clem stress that they favor buy-and-hold investing, where earnings, corporate structures, and capital allocation, among other fundamentals sculpt stock performance, outweighing the influence of the Fed’s short-term interest rate adjustments.

Straight Talk for All - Nonsense for None


Please check out our other podcasts:

https://skepticsguidetoinvesting.buzzsprout.com