Monthly Archives: August 2009
Fund of Hedge Funds: Top 50
Philippa Aylmer, contributing editor to The Hedge Fund Journal, writes, “If the last decade could be described as the biggest credit party ever, then the end of 2008 brought the mother of all hangovers. The hedge fund industry took a beating along with much else in the financial services sector and funds of hedge funds felt their share of the […]
Initial Claims Disappoint Again, Failded Banks Weighing On FDIC, Calpers Takes Another Hit, Tishman Faces Office Downturn
The stories below offer further concrete evidence that major issues persist in the US economy. When making investment decisions, we prefer to place more weight behind this type of data than “leading” economic indicators the government likes to laud and CNBC types love to regurgitate. The rally in the US$ last week stalled this week right at the resistance of […]
Relative Value and Global Macro Hedge Fund Strategies Outperform In June
Movements in equity, credit and commodity markets all contributed to positive performance for hedge funds in July, according to the Credit Suisse/Tremont hedge fund index. Capitalizing on a broad set of opportunities across equity, credit, commodity and currency markets, directional, relative value and global macro strategies were the strongest performers for the month. Convertible Arbitrage added a seventh month of […]
Bill Ackman and the Current State of Activist Hedge Funds, Part I
Bill Ackman, the forty-three-year-old founder of hedge fund firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, has had a rough go of late. Readers may recall that in 2007 he raised $2 billion from private investors in order to start a new hedge fund, Pershing Square IV. Employing a highly-leveraged mix of common stock and call options, Ackman invested the proceeds in […]
Leading Hedge Funds Making a Case for Gold
If the actions of some of the hedge fund industry’s leading managers is any indication, the attractiveness of gold as an asset class is on the rise. Several recent disclosures support such a conclusion. First, a recent survey performed by London-based researcher, Moonraker, found that 20 out of 22 hedge funds had added exposure to gold bullion to their portfolios. […]
Long/Short Mutual Funds
The market downturn last year has led mutual funds to begin testing new strategies to produce gains with lower risk. Many managers are trying to replicate the methods used by long/short hedge fund managers. By finding negatively correlated positions, fund managers are able to offset losses with gains from other assets in the portfolio. “130/30” Funds “130/30” funds […]
Emerging Markets Show True Colors During Global Slowdown
Emerging markets have seen explosive growth over the past decade, but with the recent contraction in the global economy, investors have a chance to look at real growth in individual markets. There is no doubt in my mind that the boom over the past couple of years in some countries were due to insatiable investors overbuying in whatever country the […]
Consumer Sentiment Dismal, US$ and US Treasuries Reaction A Head Fake
Today’s consumer sentiment numbers offer immediate confirmation that the issues I raised in yesterday’s post are clear and present dangers to the continued recovery of the debt and equity markets. As of this post, equity markets are down about 1.5% across the board, which is not surprising. However, the rally in the US$ and the US treasury market are in […]
Q2 EPS, LIBOR-OIS Spreads Narrow, July Retail Sales, Initail Jobless Claims
Second quarter earnings can be best characterized as light on revenue but strong on cost cutting, leading to better than expected EPS. The more positive bottom line results have helped fuel the equity market rally over the last couple of months. Meanwhile, Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) — The Libor–OIS spread narrowed to a level former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said […]
Don’t be surprised if your Hedge Fund gets a Subpoena
I received this email from Daniel Viola at Sadis & Goldberg LLP this morning Don’t be surprised if you receive a subpoena or are contacted by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). The SEC has significantly increased its enforcement efforts since the recent discovery of certain high profile Ponzi schemes. Effective August 11, 2009, the SEC has also made it […]
