Eveillard Keen on Gold and Asia

First Eagle Funds’ Jean-Marie Eveillard, who in early 2007 correctly said that the credit boom was ending and banks were acting as “disguised hedge funds”, tells Forbes.com that he’s bullish on gold and sees a variety of opportunities in Asian stocks right now.

Eveillard, a value investor, says that given current interest rates he thinks investors should have large cash reserves only if they’re holding that cash as a reserve for future opportunities — not as a long-term strategy.

Eveillard also talks about the potential demise of America’s fiat currency, opportunities in Asian stocks, and whether or not we’re headed for a typical recovery or a “new normal”. And he offers some interesting thoughts on the evolution of value investing from the strategy first laid out by Benjamin Graham in the 1930s to the style Warren Buffett has used to such great success in the modern era.