I was recently interviewed by Mert Erkal (Search for Blogging) for the April 2008 edition of Bloghology. The questions and answers are republished below.

Mert Erkal: Prieur, please tell us about an investment professional’s life especially when alarm bells are ringing for global economy.

Prieur du Plessis: The investment environment is notoriously dynamic (or, perhaps, volatile) in the sense that different political, economic and a myriad other variables are forever changing and influencing the course of financial markets – sometimes irrationally, at least on the face of it.

An investor’s unique “investment personality” plays an important role in the way he/she copes with

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After clearing the bogey at S&P 1405 at last in the previous week, the index has now pulled back to that level and for now bounced off it... hence old "resistance" now becomes new "support". It will be interesting to see if this holds but I expect it to do so for now. Some other thoughts As I've said in the weekly round up, the "strong dollar" fantasies have usually lasted 5-10 days or so... it was nearing midnight. With crude north of $120 and the dollar returning to its rightful place as the junk of the world, we might be done already. This happens like clockwork now almost every 6-8 weeks. As I wrote in detail last week, the fundamental issues facing our country do not allow for a stronger dollar... we continue massive deficit spending and we print money like mad to solve our problems. ...

In light of my last post in regards to sector rotation I am beginning a stake in Goldman Sachs (GS). I’ve been waiting for a breakout over $185, which was the March high. We have some serious resistance at the 200 day moving average, $197, but if that breaks - the sky is the relative limit.

I am doing this to create a more balanced approach in the fund, sort of a mini barbell effect. I now have 2 homebuilders and 2 investment banks (Morgan Stanley being the other) - while in total they make up 10% or so of the fund, I need to have “something” working when the market turns to it’s early cycle play. The last few times money “flowed” from commodities to other areas (however short of time frame) the fund really suffered; so this should help to mitigate some of this suffering if we are about …