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Reuters – Equity investors are too negative about the hedge fund industry, says Neptune’s Jeremy Smith, who has recently bought shares in Man Group and expects more consolidation among traditional fund firms.
Smith, who manages the 42 million-pound Neptune UK Equity fund, said that while performance of Man’s flagship AHL managed futures strategy has been poor this year, shares in the world’s biggest listed hedge fund firm still look cheap.
”A lot of fund managers have written off the hedge fund industry but from anecdotal evidence it seems a lot of money is being raised” he said at a briefing with reporters late on Wednesday.
AZCentral.com – Wall Street heads into another turbulent week with investors set to pore over a government report on retail sales and earnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to get a better reading on the consumer.
There are growing signs that the deepening economic slowdown has caused Americans to tighten their purse strings. There was fresh evidence of this past week when retailers posted the worst October same-store sales in 35 years – and analysts believe the upcoming holiday shopping season could be among the slowest in decades.
With consumer spending driving more than two-thirds of the U.S. economy, investors will be paying close attention to earnings outlooks for some of the nation’s biggest retailers. Wal-Mart, the nation’s biggest retail chain, will post results on Thursday. Kohl’s Corp., JCPenney Co., Macy’s Inc., and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. are scheduled to release reports as well.
Reuters UK – Fund firm BlackRock held onto the top spot for net sales of British funds to retail investors in the second quarter, according to industry data, helped by sales of its hedge fund-style UK Absolute Alpha fund.
BlackRock had 879.2 million pounds of net sales, up from 713.6 million pounds in the first quarter, according to Lipper Feri’s Fund Sales Report.
The report comes as the funds industry faces lower sales due to volatile and falling markets and investor caution. According to the Investment Management Association, net retail sales were 139.5 million pounds in June, down from 747.8 million pounds a year before.
Reuters UK- Polling and research group YouGov said on Monday it is aiming to raise up to $50 million (25 million pounds) for the launch of a hedge fund that will use polling data to highlight lucrative investment strategies.
The YouGov Alpha fund, which will be managed by investment boutique Four Capital, aims to gain an investment edge through YouGov’s research, which it believes can highlight areas where the stock market is being too optimistic or pessimistic, for example in retail sales.
"We’re looking to use it where the signals we get from the YouGov research are almost diametrically opposed to signals in the marketplace," said Four Capital fund manager Chris Rodgers, previously head of HSBC Halbis Partners’ UK Equity team and a senior fund manager at Schroders
