Is the sky falling? Hedge funds play chicken

Now it’s Wall Street’s big boys crying uncle, the NY Post reports, with reports of three hedge funds shutting their doors this week, including Octavian Advisors, with just under $1 billion under management. Wall Street’s once-invincible hedge funds are running scared from global financial mayhem as volatility and heightened market risk threaten their massive portfolios, according to financial consultants....... “It is a very, very difficult market for them,” said Tim Murphy, who as managing director for TIM Group in New York, follows overall market trends......... The once high-flying money men with their 2 percent (of assets under management) and 20 percent (on profits) fee structures are being hit hard by the European debt crisis and negative US economic data, a new study by Natixis Global Asset Management confirms. Although individual investors are fleeing the equity markets, which they increasingly view as a casino where the odds are not in their favor, professional money managers can’t move their money to cash without provoking outrage from their investors…............................................................................................................ Read all about it at http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/playin_chicken_49z4FuyYUpniLweUfRgWmK