Willy Walker, Chairman and CEO of Walker & Dunlop, welcomed Kiril Sokoloff, Chairman and Founder of 13D Research & Strategy to a live recording from the 2023 Summer Conference in Sun Valley. During their hour-long discussion they covered topics such as energy dependence/clean energy, AI/machine learning defense spending contracts and economics.
Walker asked Sokoloff about the meaning behind a bullish stock market. In response he stated that financial economy had peaked early 2022 while signs of economic stress were present with declining gross domestic product for three quarters; global trade was also decreasing along with bank loan growth which usually precedes recession; money supply was going down too due to Federal Reserve raising interest rates faster than any time since 1980s – “No one knows how fragile the economy is until something breaks” commented Sokoloff who suggested caution in 2023.
Sokoloff discussed his reason for investing in India and Greece as investments – India has an ambitious population led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is taking all right steps while Greece has a tough but determined population under President Katerina Sakellaropoulou cutting regulations encouraging foreign investment – “The companies that survived (Greece’s downturn) are tough and really good” said Sokoloff adding positivity to Greek situation .
The conversation then shifted towards de-dollarization (reducing reliance on U.S dollar) leading to weaker dollar – according to him this means push into hard assets like commodities gold silver copper etc., Middle East should do extremely well here given its just starting out on investing front plus need for optionality especially considering climate change hazards geopolitical uncertainty etc.; being prepared meant evaluating new information constantly shifting when needed e..g if earth getting hotter be where it’s cooler i..e mountains .
