Jim Chanos: a rate rise is long overdue

Interest rates have been so low for so long, many people in financial markets today don't know any different.

Dr Matthew Partridge
By
published
in Features

Wall Street has benefited from a "once-in-a-lifetime move" in interest rates from 14% to basically 0%, says Jim Chanos, founder and president of Kynikos Associates. This slide in rates has gone on for so long that many people working in financial markets today haven't seen high or rising interest rates for any sustainable period of time. However, "when you see things like Greece borrowing at rates lower than the US for two-year notes", it suggests things aren't sustainable. Indeed, based on current nominal growth levels and inflation, then history suggests that ten-year US bonds should be "north of 4%" rather than below 3%, as they are at present.

Another sign that we're in the midst of a bubble is that investors seem to be "discounting the same good news over and over and over again". For example, it was clear nine months ago that tax reform was going to pass in the US. Yet "people wanted to get more and more excited about it" and the market continued to rise in the last half of last year. However, Chanos warns, while "people will find all kinds of reasons" to discount the same piece of news multiple times in bull markets, "they do the opposite in bear markets".

It's not just America that concerns him. Chanos thinks that "the most important single asset class globally" is Chinese real estate, which "is probably a quarter of the Chinese economy" and the "backbone of their banking system". That means that 4% of global GDP is being spent on an asset class that "most would realise is simply being bought for speculative purposes." A Chinese property collapse could have huge implications for markets and commodities in particular.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri

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