World Business

Rogers: Inflation threat extremely serious

By Madelene Pearson (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-26 09:58

MUMBAI - Investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, said the threat of inflation is "extremely serious" and the world is in an ongoing bear market for financial assets.

Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings

Rogers, who predicted the start of the global commodities rally in 1999, is betting on a decline in stocks and gains in commodities, he said in an interview with Bloomberg-UTV in Mumbai. He's also bought the euro and the US dollar and said agricultural commodities are "extremely cheap" on an historical basis.

The Federal Reserve this week said Europe's debt crisis may hinder growth in the United States, the world's largest economy. Global stock markets have plunged amid the fallout from the European crisis, which saw euro nations and the International Monetary Fund back up Greece with an almost $1 trillion bailout.

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"The world has an ongoing economic problem which has not yet been resolved yet," Rogers said. "I don't think the best place for people to invest is in stocks."

Asian stocks dropped the most in nearly three weeks on Friday on disappointing sales and earnings forecasts by US companies. The MSCI World Index of the largest companies has lost about 13 percent of its value from a more than two-year high in April.

"I am still concerned about debt around the world," Rogers said. "I am not terribly optimistic about the world economy partially, largely, because of the gigantic debts which have built up."

Rogers said he's not optimistic about the euro or the US dollar in the "long term." Sugar and silver are cheap on an historical basis, Rogers said.

Bloomberg News