Jim Rogers Betting Against Stocks, Treasuries; Long Commodities

Benzinga Radio spoke with legendary investor Jim Rogers earlier this week. Rogers founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros and has invested in markets across the world throughout his career. He is the chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc and is the creator of the Rogers International Commodities Index. He has also written 5 books detailing his adventures in life and investing around the world. Rogers takes a macro approach to investing, and trades in stocks, currencies, commodities, and fixed income securities on a global level. Rogers told Benzinga that he is betting heavily on commodities, and that he owns every single one that trades. In particular, he likes agriculture and precious metals. On the short side, he is bearish on stocks and U.S. government bonds. "I am long commodities, especially agriculture and precious metals, but I'm long all commodities. I am long some currencies. I am short emerging market stocks. I am short American technology stocks. I'm short large, international banks. I'm short government bonds… That's where my money is. Who knows if I'm right." Rogers is not a quick fire trader. These are his conviction positions, and he doesn't get shaken out easily, despite the volatility in the commodities markets. "We certainly can have temporary tops. In the 1970s, when we had this huge, bull market, there were plenty of times when commodity prices went down." He added that he much prefers the physical commodities themselves versus commodity stocks. "I don't really own many commodities stocks. I mainly own commodities. Yale University did a study which showed that you would have made 300% more investing in commodities themselves rather than commodities stocks over the past several decades. When I say commodities, I'm not talking about stocks--I'm talking about commodities. I'm talking about real stuff."