Each year, some people look forward to special days such as birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, New Year’s, or even Halloween.  But my favorite time of year, without a doubt, is mid-January when Barron’s magazine publishes its annual roundtable.  First thing this morning I ran to the local magazine store and purchased a copy.

The Barron’s roundtable is when some of the world’s best money managers - John Neff, Archie MacAllaster, Bill Gross, Mario Gabelli, Felix Zulauf, Marc Faber, Oscar Schafer, Meryl Witmer, Fred Hickey, Abby Joseph Cohen, Art Samberg, and Scott Black - get together to talk about the markets, economy, and their stock picks.  Each of the roundtable members has made a lot of money and a big name for themselves.  I love reading about their stock picks and how they think about the economy in general.  If you haven’t already done so, I strongly suggest you go get a copy right now!  Part 1 was published this week, part 2 will be out next week, and part 3 the week after.

The general consensus was that 2006 will be a good year for the economy and most of them were also bullish on the stock market.  Here are some notes I took:

• Oil is still cheap (10 cents a cup) and will go much higher long-term.  Supply has diminished, yet demand is greater, especially from China and India.  An interesting fact: A cup of crude oil is still cheaper than Starbucks.
• Inflation will be rampant because of oil and the Fed might print money like none other.
• Gold is going up because of inflation.
• The US consumer could stop spending when the housing bubble pops.
• Everyone seemed to agree the US Dollar is doomed.  (Hint: Get out of US Dollar-denominated investments.)
• Interest rates should stop rising because the economy will slow.  This would be a bullish sign for the stock market.
• China and India are growing rapidly.
• Corporate dividends are up.

Perhaps in February, after all the roundtable articles have been released and their stock picks are in the public domain, I will add those picks to StokBlogs.

-theo