Macro Hive Conversations With Bilal Hafeez

In this episode, I have a conversation with one of the leading experts on gold, John Butler. He has spent 25 years in the financial industry, worked at some of the top banks and has even written a book on gold (The Golden Revolution). In the podcast, we talk about: Valuation frameworks for gold The relationship between oil and real interest rates with gold The insurance properties of gold How gold behaves around regime changes in political and monetary systems Comparisons between gold and bitcoin Projections for gold in the next few years. It's a great discussion, so please enjoy.

In this episode, we're lucky to have a conversation with one of the most original macro thinkers, the Macro Dilettante. He prefers not to disclose his name, but I've known him for years and is a super experienced market pro having worked at asset managers, in alternative investments and at pension funds. Back in January, he warned me about the global consequences of COVID and I mistakenly didn't heed his advice until much later. During our conversation, we talk about the importance of understanding time as well prices in markets, the significance of pension funds in this crisis, the possibility of bonds selling-off and what policymakers should do to fix the crisis.

With the country in lockdown, we've decided to launch a podcast show to better reach our audience. In our inaugural episode, I speak to George Goncalves about the recent volatility in markets, what's going in dollar cash markets, what the Fed can do and whether we could enter a depression. I also review some of the pieces we've put out on Macro Hive over the past week including ones on tracking the COVID virus, the odds of a US recession, the importance of real yields and the possibility of stagflation. Please subscribe to the show and spread the word! Bilal