Eric Coffin, editor of HRA Journal, writes one of the must-read newsletters in the junior mining sector. In this interview with The Gold Report, Coffin implores gold equity investors to ask: Is the project financeable in this market? And he discusses some companies he covers in the HRA Journal with the know-how to find funds, as well as a couple of uranium names that would benefit from utilities re-entering the market to find long-term delivery deals. But Coffin gets rolling by questioning U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen’s timing, warning investors about the growing divergence between equity and higher yield markets, and shooting down the accepted theory that the U.S. dollar index is heading to 120.
The Gold Report: In the Nov. 10 issue of the HRA Journal under the title, “Janet’s Kool-Aid Stand,” you set your sights and took some shots at U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen. All the while, her policies have helped bolster the U.S. dollar, the U.S. stock markets have stabilized after an August swoon and seem poised for further gains. What’s not to like?
Eric Coffin: Janet Yellen has done an OK job. The biggest mistake the Fed made was not raising rates in early 2014. The simple truth is that the Fed has cornered itself. It has a major credibility issue given how markets reacted to its wimping out in September. If the market stops believing in its guidance, it has a bigger problem.
Frankly, I’m not as sold as everyone else is on the amount of upside the market has right now. I’m concerned the timing may turn out to be fairly bad for this rate increase even though the Fed doesn’t really have much choice.
TGR: What do you think the Fed will do?
EC: I don’t think this is going to be …read more