Dalio Says It’s Time to Buy Amid “Stupid” Bond Economics

Dalio Says It’s Time to Buy Amid “Stupid” Bond Economics

Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio, who openly disdains holding cash amid a rising money supply and inflation risk, says bonds and other U.S. dollar-denominated assets may also be a bad bet. This according to a recent Bloomberg article.

“The economics of investing in bonds (and most financial assets) has become stupid,” according to a recent LinkedIn post in which Dalio also wrote, “Rather than get paid less than inflation why not instead buy stuff—any stuff—that will equal inflation or better?”

Dalio suggests borrowing cash to purchase higher-returning non-debt investment assets in a new paradigm he said could be characterized by “shocking” tax increases and restrictions on the movement of capital, advocating for a “well-diversified” portfolio of non-debt and non-dollar assets.

In the post, Dalio said, “I also believe that assets in the mature developed reserve currency countries will underperform the Asian (including Chinese) emerging countries’ markets,” highlighting a rapid upswing in Chinese bond holdings by international investors.

Other notable quotes from Dalio’s post include:

  • “There’s just so much money injected into the markets and the economy that the markets are like a casino with people playing with funny money.”
  • “Because of limitations of how low interest rates can go, bond prices are close to their upper limits in price, which makes being short them a relatively low-risk bet.”
  • “Watch central bankers’ actions—i.e., see if they increase their bond buying when interest rates are rising led by long-term interest rates and when the markets and economy are strong—because that action could signal that they are experiencing supply/demand problems.”