Hedge fund investors are turning cautious on huge, multi-billion dollar funds, say execs meeting in Monaco this week, and see better returns from the boutique funds that were once the driving force of the industry, according to Reuters.
"The feeling we have is that they (big commodity trading advisers and macro funds) all feel a bit too big compared to the real liquidity of the markets," said Patrick Fenal, deputy chairman of asset manager Unigestion in an interview on the sidelines of the conference.
So-called "two traders with a terminal" epitomised the rapid growth of the industry in the early years of the last decade, as bank prop traders setting up on their own profited from a long bear market in technology stocks and subsequent market rally. But investors deserted small funds during the crisis, and when they returned to the industry often opted for big funds, believing they were more likely to survive and could protect clients better from fraudsters such as Bernard Madoff.
Inflows coupled with strong performance helped funds such as Brevan Howard's Master fund grow to around $25 billion, while Winton Capital, which runs computer-driven funds, has around $17 billion and Moore Capital manages around $15 billion. However, investors are starting to see size as a potential danger again….
There’s more where that came from: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/22/hedgefunds-size-idUSLDE75K1FD20110622?feedType=RSS&feedName=financialsSector&rpc=43
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Palin’s Tour Bus Vanishes! Where is Sarah Palin?
Not generally an area of interest to this blog, but hell...we have to admit it; we're suckers for terrific headlines.
The former Alaska governor embarked on a bus tour of the eastern United States last month, kicking off the trip Memorial Day weekend in the nation's capital. While Palin initially remained mum on where her travels would take her, her tentative itinerary reportedly included stops in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Iowa. HuffPo reports.
Real Clear Politics reports:
Though Palin and her staff never announced a timeline for the remaining legs of her trip, aides had drafted preliminary itineraries that would have taken her through the Midwest and Southeast at some point this month. But those travel blueprints are now in limbo, RCP has learned, as Palin and her family have reverted to the friendly confines of summertime Alaska, where the skies are currently alight for over 19 hours a day and the Bristol Bay salmon fishing season is nearing its peak.
Earlier this month, Palin regarded her time on the road as "one of the best weeks" of her life in a web video released by her political action committee highlighting stops from the first week of her trip.
"Our family has been blessed with an opportunity to showcase all that is good and strong and free about our exceptional nation, bitches..." said Palin in a statement released in conjunction with the clip….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/sarah-palin-bus-tour-route_n_882095.html
The former Alaska governor embarked on a bus tour of the eastern United States last month, kicking off the trip Memorial Day weekend in the nation's capital. While Palin initially remained mum on where her travels would take her, her tentative itinerary reportedly included stops in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Iowa. HuffPo reports.
Real Clear Politics reports:
Though Palin and her staff never announced a timeline for the remaining legs of her trip, aides had drafted preliminary itineraries that would have taken her through the Midwest and Southeast at some point this month. But those travel blueprints are now in limbo, RCP has learned, as Palin and her family have reverted to the friendly confines of summertime Alaska, where the skies are currently alight for over 19 hours a day and the Bristol Bay salmon fishing season is nearing its peak.
Earlier this month, Palin regarded her time on the road as "one of the best weeks" of her life in a web video released by her political action committee highlighting stops from the first week of her trip.
"Our family has been blessed with an opportunity to showcase all that is good and strong and free about our exceptional nation, bitches..." said Palin in a statement released in conjunction with the clip….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/sarah-palin-bus-tour-route_n_882095.html
Bill Gross Just Said The Magic Phrase, And The Market Just Jumped
BusinessInsider writes that in a tweet, Bill Gross of PIMCO just predicted that QE3 would be revealed in August at Jackson Hole.
That tweet hit at 10:23.
On that prediction, stocks just jumped.
No wonder they call him God.
Read more at:
http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gross-just-said-the-magic-phrase-and-the-market-just-jumped-2011-6
That tweet hit at 10:23.
On that prediction, stocks just jumped.
No wonder they call him God.
Read more at:
http://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gross-just-said-the-magic-phrase-and-the-market-just-jumped-2011-6
Mumbles: The Short (Not So Sweet) Blogging Life of a Banking Intern
One of the summer’s most-anticipated financial blogs — at least by DealBook — appears to have met a swift demise. Tuesday, we got wind of a blog created by a summer analyst (read: intern) at a middle-market investment bank in Los Angeles, who promised to write about his trials on the job — under the pseudonym “Mumbles.”
Sadly, as of Wednesday morning, Mumbles is no more. The rogue blog, titled “Life of an Investment Banking Summer Slave,” had been deleted by the second day.
It’s too bad. The newcomer showed some promise. In the inaugural post, Mumbles introduced himself: “I don’t have a 4.0 G.P.A., play lacrosse or belong to any secret societies. Rather, I play real sports — basketball and golf, do enough to get by in school and prefer a C.F.A. to an M.B.A.”
This summer, I joined an exclusive club. A club filled with Ivy Leaguers, valedictorians, paper pushers, foot soldiers, and me, the chip-on-the-shoulder state school kid. We call ourselves: Investment Banking Summer Analysts — essentially, we’re superheroes without the capes.
Mumbles’s pair of posts included tips like “Never Go Home Before a V.P.” and ruminations on the grunt work that is expected of summer analysts….
Find out more at - http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/the-short-blogging-life-of-banking-intern/
…Another Fraudster About To Hit the Dirt: Feds to Announce $200 Million Settlement With Morgan Keegan
CommercialAppeal.com reports that Federal and state regulators are expected to announce a settlement Wednesday totaling roughly $200 million with Morgan Keegan & Co, a unit of Birmingham, Ala., regional bank Regions Financial Corp., according to a person familiar.
The SEC, financial regulators from Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) will hold a news conference at noon to discuss a settlement in a case involving misconduct related to the financial crisis.
The SEC filed a federal civil suit last year alleging Memphis-based Morgan Keegan, its mutual-fund manager James Kelsoe and others defrauded investors by inflating the value of risky subprime securities and selling them to clients without informing clients of the financial risks.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jun/22/settlement-expected-today-morgan-keegan-fraud-case/
The SEC, financial regulators from Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) will hold a news conference at noon to discuss a settlement in a case involving misconduct related to the financial crisis.
The SEC filed a federal civil suit last year alleging Memphis-based Morgan Keegan, its mutual-fund manager James Kelsoe and others defrauded investors by inflating the value of risky subprime securities and selling them to clients without informing clients of the financial risks.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jun/22/settlement-expected-today-morgan-keegan-fraud-case/
The Very Curious Case of the Goldman Mystery Laptop
The good folks at BusinessInsider remind us that a few weeks ago the New York Times published a story about a mystery laptop that revealed details suggesting that Fabrice Tourre was not the only Goldman Sachs employee responsible for the Abacus mess.
Tourre, in case you’re not up on your recent financial history, was the lone trader prosecuted for creating and selling shoddy mortgage securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis.
The NYT story implied that Tourre's defense is that he was part of a close-knit team, all of whom built and sold the deals, and they were all as guilty as each other.
The Times said it got the details about Tourre's defense from a laptop owned by a woman called Nancy Cohen. Instantly, the laptop became the most talked about item in the story.
Cohen says a friend of hers found it in the garbage can and thought Cohen, a artist and filmmaker who also goes by Nancy Kahn, might find something interesting on it. It turns out that the laptop -- which has a red heart sticker on it and is a Sony -- belonged to Tourre. Goldman Sachs told CNN it was his personal computer, not his work computer….
Read more now.... http://www.businessinsider.com/fabrice-tourre-personal-laptop-dumped-in-apartment-building-garbage-area-2011-6
Tourre, in case you’re not up on your recent financial history, was the lone trader prosecuted for creating and selling shoddy mortgage securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis.
The NYT story implied that Tourre's defense is that he was part of a close-knit team, all of whom built and sold the deals, and they were all as guilty as each other.
The Times said it got the details about Tourre's defense from a laptop owned by a woman called Nancy Cohen. Instantly, the laptop became the most talked about item in the story.
Cohen says a friend of hers found it in the garbage can and thought Cohen, a artist and filmmaker who also goes by Nancy Kahn, might find something interesting on it. It turns out that the laptop -- which has a red heart sticker on it and is a Sony -- belonged to Tourre. Goldman Sachs told CNN it was his personal computer, not his work computer….
Read more now.... http://www.businessinsider.com/fabrice-tourre-personal-laptop-dumped-in-apartment-building-garbage-area-2011-6
“I Messed Up Bigtime” Paul Allen, Ex-Mortgage CEO, Sentenced To The Slammer
The CEO of what had been one of the nation's largest privately held mortgage lenders was sentenced Tuesday to more than three years in prison for his role in a $3 billion scheme that officials called one of the biggest corporate frauds in U.S. history, HuffPo Reports..
"I messed up. I messed up big," Allen told U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema before he was sentenced, apologizing to his family and "the entire financial community. "There was no excuse for my behavior."
Allen was CEO at Ocala, Fla.-based Taylor Bean & Whitaker, which collapsed in 2009 after the criminal investigation became public, resulting in its 2,000 employees losing their jobs. The fraud also contributed to the collapse of Alabama-based Colonial Bank – the sixth largest bank failure in U.S. history – after Colonial bought hundreds of millions of dollars in Taylor Bean mortgages that had already been sold to other investors.
Two other banks – Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas – lost nearly $2 billion after buying corporate paper from Taylor Bean that was not properly backed with collateral, authorities said….
Wait…wait. There’s more good stuff at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/mortgage-fraud-ceo-prison-paul-allen_n_881946.html
"I messed up. I messed up big," Allen told U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema before he was sentenced, apologizing to his family and "the entire financial community. "There was no excuse for my behavior."
Allen was CEO at Ocala, Fla.-based Taylor Bean & Whitaker, which collapsed in 2009 after the criminal investigation became public, resulting in its 2,000 employees losing their jobs. The fraud also contributed to the collapse of Alabama-based Colonial Bank – the sixth largest bank failure in U.S. history – after Colonial bought hundreds of millions of dollars in Taylor Bean mortgages that had already been sold to other investors.
Two other banks – Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas – lost nearly $2 billion after buying corporate paper from Taylor Bean that was not properly backed with collateral, authorities said….
Wait…wait. There’s more good stuff at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/22/mortgage-fraud-ceo-prison-paul-allen_n_881946.html
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