BHA Q1 2009 Alternative Investor Report

Working with a group of 150 alternative investment managers, alternative investor research company, Brighton House Associates,(BHA) published its Quarterly Research Report highlighting insights and trends from this research that are most pertinent to industry professionals. In summary of the report, the markets continued their downward trend in Q1, but the ability of hedge fund managers and alternative investors to adapt […]

Good Sight, Good Insight: Risk Management by Ed Seykota

I was discussing portfolio management strategy with a client who runs a long/short equity hedge fund. In his former life, he worked for a large Fund of Funds where he evaluated long/short equity mangers. In that role, he frequently referenced an article on Risk Management by Ed Seykota. He had increasingly become frustrated with traditional manager measurement techniques like VaR, […]

Cable TV / Network TV / On Demand Internet Video, Intel Earnings Revealed

Investment Themes Investment themes are the building blocks of any successful portfolio. The themes are created by innovation or paradigmatic shifts in perception that over time drive the herd in a new direction. Our job as portfolio managers is to constantly scour the investment world to discover these themes, track these themes and eventually profit from these themes. To that […]

What is the difference between hedge fund capital introduction and third party marketing?

This is a re-post of the original article from Evan Rapoport’s Capital Introduction Blog I often hear the terms Capital Introduction and Third Party Marketing used interchangeably. They actually however, represent two different services within the hedge fund asset gathering space. Capital Introduction is a service usually provided by hedge fund prime brokers. The biggest teams coming from the largest […]

MFA’s Richard Barker On The Private Fund Investment Advisers Registration Act of 2009

Richard H. Baker, President and CEO of the Managed Funds Association (MFA) wrote a letter to MFA members this afternoon, highlighting today’s announcement by the Obama Administration requiring all advisers to hedge funds and other private pools of capital, including private equity and venture capital funds, to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Baker highlights how the Administration’s […]

IBD Editorial, Truth In Lending, The Housing Market, The Financial Crisis, What it Means for The Health Care Overhaul

A must read story from the Investors Business Daily. The story illustrates how government meddling clearly led to the ruination of the housing market and in turn the financial crisis. We must understand what happened and raise our collective voice if we are to save the health care system from a similar fate. Truth In Lending By INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY […]

deMarigny: Taleb Almost Has Solution Right

In today’s article: “Taleb offers a universal solution to our ills” (Published July 14, 2009 at 10:46 AM “THE DEAL”) Prof. Taleb, author of “The Black Swan,” a book about the likelihood of outlier events otherwise believed to be improbable, profers a solution to the current debt and liquidity malaise.  He says to make a mandatory conversion of all public […]

Japan Shifting Away From the US Dollar, Option Adjust-rate Mortgages Delinquencies, Russia Threatens to Seize ArcelorMittal’s Mines

RCM Comment: I am loath to bore you with the same story over and over but the story’s far reaching ramifications demand that we cover this story like the wet blanket it represents. You see, there is a fire raging in the U.S.. Our government is burning paper (US$s) at an alarming clip as it spends aggressively to avoid the […]

Stalled Stimulus Deters Investment, Subprime Woe Resurfaces, China Attacks US$ Dominance

– If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed. –Mark Twain RCM Comment: The story below illustrates what happens all too often when government oversteps its mandate and attempts to manipulate the private sector. For those of you who approve of big government read this story very closely. Please understand […]

Fear Trade Back? Sergey Aleynikov & HFTs, Goldman’s Trading Scandal, 2nd Stimulus, U.S. Office Market Collapse

News that Moves Markets with RCM Editorial On Monday I revealed long term trends that, as I said, must be respected. However, today I wish to offer a thought that may help those who wish to trade on a shorter time frame. Government manipulation, with the help of big investment banks, has turned shorter term decision making into a sort […]

China Calls for Dollar Displacement, China Begins to Settle Trades in Renminbi, India Questions US$, Increase in Stimulus Spending?

News That Moves Markets   Good morning readers, this is your Monday wake up call. The US$ is under attack and the budget deficit will continue to expand like the blackhole it is regardless of congressional protestations surrounding fiscal discipline. Instead of wasting time arguing about the inevitable and fearing the fallout let’s position the portfolio to benefit: Short US […]

Manipulation of Equity Markets: Helicopter Ben, Pinocchio Tim and Arthur Levitt / California Misses Budget Deadline

RCM Editorial While the mainstream media is busy rolling “green shoots” and smoking them, I thought I’d compose a post today to help you ‘JUST SAY NO.’ Ben “Helicopter” Bernanke and his side kick Tim “Pinocchio” Geithner (honestly, watch him speak, I swear his nose looks like it grows) have been dealing some pretty potent D.C. “trip shoots.” Of course, […]

Colony Capital (owners of Michael Jackson’s Neverland) to IPO

Market Watch, with the help of regulatory filings has released an article which indicates that Colony Capital is raising money for an upcoming IPO: Colony Financial Inc. will be a real estate investment trust managed by a subsidiary of Colony Capital. The new REIT plans to mainly buy, originate and manage commercial mortgage loans and other commercial real estate-related debt […]

Honduran Coup, Jump In Mortgage Rates

News That Moves Markets   RCM Comment: In a world seemingly full of bad news, during a news cycle full of Madoff, Iran and North Korea, I thought you could use a little lift. I thought you would appreciate a story where good triumphs over evil and where a constitution is protected from a despotic leader. Finally, the people of […]

Economy Not in Good Shape; Recent Changes to the Way the U.S. Treasury Tallies Demand at its Bond Auctions

News That Moves Markets   RCM Comment: O.K. we have a lot to get to today, so let’s get started. First, I’ve put together a list of economic numbers recently released to offer more evidence in support of my pronouncement that “the economy is not in good shape”. I know this proclamation is not the favored view at the moment. […]