This week:
- Business Insider executive editor Sara Silverstein talks about the iPhone X, the release of which many people thought would trigger a so-called upgrade supercycle. She breaks down a recent UBS report arguing that this isn't true, citing data showing that iPhone sales will remain flat from a year ago. UBS says that people are still most concerned about price and battery life, not the newly announced functions that Apple has been advertising so heavily. UBS still has a buy rating on the stock, despite the firm's reservations over the upgrade cycle.
- Silverstein sits down with Jim Rickards, the editor of Strategic Intelligence and the author of Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis. He breaks down his $10,000/oz price target for gold, saying that some central banks may have to resort to the gold standard to restore confidence in the markets. Rickards says that $10,000 is the perfect pricing in order to to avoid a disaster scenario. He says what reflects reality is "complexity theory," which has been successful in other fields, and for which he's been a pioneer for bringing to financial markets. Rickards shares his thoughts on the Fed, and questions why the central bank is unwinding its balance sheet while economic growth is slow. He says it's because the Fed is already preparing for the next recession.
- In the Fidelity Insight of the week, Silverstein speaks to Bill Bower, a portfolio manager at the firm. He'd just returned from a visit to Japan, and tells Silverstein that when he invests there, he likes to look at individual stocks. Bower says that he's looking at secular growth ideas in factory automation, as well as more value-based names in the financial sector. He says that he's taken a recent liking to financials in European, where he sees opportunities due to earnings growth. In general, when Bower invests internationally, he's more interested in secular ideas than cyclical ones. He's specifically intrigued by China, which he says will transition from a centrally-planned economy to a consumer, and notes that technology and the internet caters to that space.