War of the Worlds (1938 version) unfolds on CNBC
On Wednesday, May 2, Reuters ran a story about a New York Fed report on hedge fund correlation. But it appears that Reuters and several of its customers were a little to hasty going to print. Read More
View ArticleNew York Post latest to butcher hedge fund risk story
In a lesson on how rumors start, The New York Post reports this week that the Fed has issued an "unusual warning". This would be a great story, if only it was true...Read More
View ArticleBridgewater gives “alpha-centric” a thumbs-up
"Alpha centric" turns out to be more than just a goofy term used by us as a placeholder until something better comes along.Read More
View ArticleNew York Times Dispels Hedge Fund Bubble Mythology – Nearly
The New York Times concludes that there is little risk of a dot-com-style implosion of the hedge fund industry. We generally agree with this assertion. But recent hedge fund IPOs add a new dimension...
View ArticleTwo ways to present “balance” in 130/30 discussion
Two articles this week aim to provide a "balanced" view of 1X0/X0 funds. One because its analysis is dispassionate and one because it tries its darndest to create controversy.Read More
View ArticleIt’s Halloween and you know what that means for some media outlets…
It's Halloween and you know what that means: spooky stories of haunted hedge funds and private equity slashers. This year's tale is presented by the London Daily Telegraph.Read More
View ArticleThe assets are falling! The assets are falling!
It's deja vu all over again this month as one early-reporting database pronounces that hedge fund assets - at least in one category - shrank last month.Read More
View ArticleAIMA comes out swinging
The closest thing hedge fund managers have to a global trade association is apparently fed up with reading how its members are at the root of all that is evil.Read More
View ArticleIs high hedge fund compensation really that new?
There is little debate that top hedge fund managers make astronomical amounts of money. But are such amounts actually that new? If not, why are they an issue now?Read More
View ArticleMedia turns hostile: 130/30 now “dubious”“overblown”“faddish”“hype”
A widely-syndicated column about the 130/30 "fad" misses the mark and sets the stage for years of public confusion regarding short-extension strategies.Read More
View ArticleMore media malarkey
Canada’s National Post reports that the FBI is now warning of hedge fund fraud (“FBI Warns of Hedge Fund Fraud“). But in actuality, FBI Director Robert Meuller gave a 2,000 word speech last week in...
View ArticleRespected columnist warns on hedge funds, prompting response from AIMA chapter
A popular columnist says hedge funds might be the "next shoe to drop" as a result of the credit crunch - prompting one chapter of AIMA to speak out. Read More
View ArticleThe Hedge Fund Handbook: For Journalists Entering the Field
By: Brandon Blake Published: 2008 Abstract: By definition, a hedge fund is “an aggressively managed portfolio of investments that uses advanced investment strategies such as leverage, long, short and...
View ArticleAre hedge funds really “clinging to hope”?
What's the difference between the hedge fund industry and Tom Hanks' character in the movie "Castaway"? Only one is clinging to hope.Read More
View ArticleMedia Insana-ty?
Politicians have been doing it for years. But now journalists have begun to switch teams - joining the very hedge funds on which they used to report. Read More
View ArticleHedgeWorld Through the Ages
The acquisition of Reuters by Thomson sounded the death knell last week for one of the industry's first online portals. Read More
View ArticleIf hedge funds are “heading for the rocks”, it’s to rescue long-only castaways
There's no question that it's rough seas ahead for hedge funds. But the industry will weather this storm better than many think.Read More
View ArticleLeaving Lake Wobegon
What faces the asset management after the dust settles? Hopefully, a sober and renewed examination of alpha across all investments - not a renunciation of it. Read More
View ArticleStigma of redemption gates fading fast
Back in the old days (like, in August), shutting a "redemption gate" used to be a form of punishment. Now it's more like "tough love". Read More
View ArticleSigns of Hope
Barton Biggs says the hedge fund industry isn't coming to an end after all. What if he's right?Read More
View ArticlePonzipalooza
Now everyone from pensions to governments to legitimate hedge funds are in the Ponzi game. Given this, we guess it shouldn't be that hard for the SEC to rack-up the score. Read More
View ArticleNewsreel: Who’s writing these headlines?
When we read some hedge fund headlines, we are forced to ask ourselves a critical question: WTF? (that's "Whither the facts...") Read More
View ArticleMore mystical dates
The so-called "D-Day" is here once again. With about 45 days left until the end of Q1, market watchers turn an eye toward hedge fund redemptions as a possible explanation for all that ails markets.Read...
View ArticleCDS Guilt Trip
Were Credit Default Swaps of symptom or a cause of AIG's downfall? Was AIG really a "hedge fund"? These questions and more are addressed in a new paper by the traffic cop in the "intersection of law...
View ArticleColumnist argues hedge funds should be “regulated out of existence.” Time for...
Earlier this week a widely-read columnist provided a wonderful example of the challenges faced by those who wish to ban hedge funds - a lack of hard data.Read More
View ArticleCold Snap: What’s a “frozen” hedge fund asset really worth?
The administrator in charge of distributing the frozen assets of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. announced last week that it had struck a deal to return some $11 billion to creditors. But how exactly are...
View ArticleHedge funds: Not the juiced-up, ready-to-destroy-financial-markets types many...
A new report on the challenges faced by the hedge fund industry reveals some somewhat positive news: that hedge funds weren't the renegade, levered up, ready-to-destroy-the-global-financial-markets...
View ArticleStudy quantifies media biases regarding hedge funds and proposes way for...
Hedge funds and the mass media have always had a love/hate relationship (with emphasis on the "hate" part). But it turns out that an analysis of media word choices - and the choices of words in funds'...
View ArticleMedia and Investment Management
By: Gideon Ozik and Ronnie Sadka Published: July 2010 Abstract: We classify news items about equity hedge funds over 1999-2008 into three source groups: General newspapers, Specialized magazines, and...
View ArticleThree split-strikes and you’re out
"Bernie" is back in the headlines, squawking from the jailhouse about how the banks and others should have seen his scheme for what it was - and actually may have. The broader question is whether...
View ArticleOld News (but still timely): Federal Common Law Torts Don’t Exist
One of the long-term trends that the hedge fund industry, and many others, face is the fact that the new media have unpredictable and sometimes unsettling consequences for many ways of doing business,...
View ArticleHedge Funds & the Global Economic Crisis: Willing Culprits or Easy Scapegoats?
“It was quite convenient to blame the Hedge Funds. They were an easy target, in that they were super-rich, a lot of them were American, and they were presented as bad people. They were blamed for what...
View ArticleHedge Funds as Metaphor: And Not in a Good Way
One take-away from David Stockman's new best selling book is that the phrase "hedge fund" may well be on its way beyond descriptive significance. In the public realm, a "hedge fund" is now as much a...
View ArticleThe Mere Whisper of the Name ‘Soros’
Facile parallels notwithstanding, neither the argument Druckenmiller made at Sohn nor any other good reasons that may now exist for shorting the Aussie have a lot to do with the case against the pound...
View ArticleWhy are Hedge Fund Assets Reaching All-time Highs?
Guest columnist Don Steinbrugge looks at why allocators continue to invest in hedge funds, even when the media thinks they shouldn't.Read More
View ArticleTerwilliger’s Legal Troubles: Give Mark Cuban a Cigar
The great thing about short sellers has always been that -- if they're good -- it's because they have a keen nose that can smell a boiler room. If they are open about what they're doing, they can also...
View ArticleThoughts about Latest Insider-Trading Scandal
The story on the front page of The Wall Street Journal, about the Dendreon/Provenge investigations, focuses on trading in Dendreon stock over a three week period, beginning with the date of an e-mail...
View ArticleYes, Speech is Free for Short Sellers, Too
The success of Wynn's lawsuit would have chilled free speech by short sellers. So let us take a moment to celebrate its quick demise at the hands of Judge Orrick. As a general rule, though, when a...
View ArticleDoes the hedge fund industry benefit society?
Guest columnist Donald Steinbrugge, CFA, looks at the bad rap hedge funds have gotten and talks about why it's not deserved.Read More
View ArticleWhat Happens When You Pick A Fight With Activist Hedge Funds
The tear-jerker ending to a famous Broadway musical comes to Faille's mind as he contemplates the latest twist in the struggle over DuPont's board. Read More
View ArticleOne Decision, Two Courts, Three Nations, Four Angles
Faille is struck by a brief passage in the recent Nortel decision (the Delaware side of the Delaware/Ontario concord over allocation) that suggests the degree to which the United States dominates the...
View ArticleActivism: Why the Short-termers Can Be Right
Much of the ubiquitous talk of the short-sightedness of nasty activist investors or traders is simply confused, analytically sloppy. It is a sort of confusion likely to have negative consequences to...
View ArticleVindication for Pirrong and Irwin: Why Are Trafigura’s Profits Up?
Trafigura has done quite well from the decline in crude oil prices in recent months. So well, in fact, as to throw a harsh light on a story that appeared in The New York Times in December 2013. Read More
View ArticleDelivering Alpha Highlights: Part One
Larry Fink is "deeply worried" that the combination of share repo with high-yield debt is "one of the reasons why we have a below trend-line economy. We're not investing in the future as much as we...
View ArticleHedge Fund Assets to Increase a Quarter Trillion Dollars by Summer of 2016
Guest columnist Don Steinbrugge on why hedge fund AUM is set for an increase over the course of the next 12 months.Read More
View ArticleCause and Effect: Or, Shooting the Messenger
Not even Schrodinger blamed the reporters for market irrationality. Saying out loud, "Hey, this cat is dead," doesn't kill the cat. Read More
View ArticleThe Ups & Downs of Alternative Investing.
It's that time of year when investment advisers are talking about asset allocation. Guest columnist Diane Harrison explains why you should never give up on your alternative investments.Read More
View Article10 Years Later: Reflections on the Madoff Meltdown
It was just about 10 years ago (Dec. 10, 2008) that Bernie Madoff acknowledged to his sons, Mark and Andrew, that he had “absolutely nothing left” of the funds that had been entrusted to him; that the...
View ArticleThe Audacity of Opacity
By Bill Kelly, CEO, CAIA Association Why are we still talking about this? No, it’s not the central bankers and their insatiable easing tendencies, trade wars with China, or even the Women’s World Cup...
View ArticleClimate: The ‘OUR’ Between Dog and Wolf
By Bill Kelly, CEO, CAIA Association While this week’s post may harken to a certain book written by John Coates, there is a different play on the metaphor at work here, with our wheezing planet...
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