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The Economic Meltdown
A once-in-a-generation financial meltdown has gripped the planet and incinerated the net worth of many. Economic giants are faltering and emerging economies are getting destroyed. Recession or depression? The Economic Meltdown section contains all of the latest news that could affect your bottom line.
Instead Of A State Income-Tax Refund Check - An IOU?
How would you feel if you checked your mail, expecting to find your state income-tax refund, but instead found an IOU from the state?
This is the situation that many Californians may find themselve...
Global Stock Markets Lost $30.1 Trillion Dollars of Value in 2008
$30.1 trillion dollars.
According to a recent article on Bloomberg.com, this represents the total value that was shed from global stock markets in 2008.
This doesn't include the plummeting housi...
The SEC Issues Statement re: Madoff Scandal - We Messed Up
The SEC issued a statement on Tuesday night, saying that it had missed repeated opportunities to discover the Madoff fraud that has resulted in the disappearance of many billions of dollars.
The SE...
Are You A Bull Or A Bear for 2009?
After a historically disastrous 2008, I am finding that many people that I talk to are pretty divided on what 2009 has in store for the markets. The short-term direction of both the stock market and h...
General Motors, Chrysler Staring Bankruptcy in the Face After Bailout Falls Apart
Markets are plunging worldwide tonight after a proposed multi-billion dollar bailout for the "Big 3" automakers fell apart.
The proposed $14 billion dollar bailout came unhinged late Thursday night...
Why Would Someone Buy a T-Bill With a Zero Percent Yield?
In case you missed it, earlier this week the annualized yields on three-month Treasury bills dropped to 0% (and actually hit -0.01%) before rising to 0.01%.
The last time that short-term Treasury y...
Fortress Investment Group LLC Halts Redemptions From Its Drawbridge Global Macro Fund
Fortress Investment Group LLC, besieged by investor redemption requests, announced earlier this week that it had halted redemptions from its Drawbridge Global Macro fund.
Fortress is a publicly tra...
Citadel Investment Group LLC Continues To Struggle in November
Can Citadel Investment Group LLC withstand a 47% YTD drop in its two biggest funds?
Can any hedge fund recover from a near 50% drop, especially in this environment? We're about to find out.
Bloo...
The Recession Explained: What Is a Recession?
Over the past few months, you have undoubtedly (unless you've been living under a rock or out in the wilderness somewhere) heard the term "recession" mentioned on television. You've probably heard tha...
BVI Global Fund Ltd (of Tudor Investment Corp) Temporarily Suspends Withdrawals
Tudor Investment Corp. will be temporarily be suspending investor withdrawals in its mammoth $10 billion dollar BVI Global Fund Ltd. as the company seeks investor approval to split the fund into two s...
Satellite Asset Management LP Halts Client Withdrawals
Not to sound like a broken record, but another major hedge fund has announced that they will be halting client withdrawals for the time being.
Satellite Asset Management LP, which currently has abo...
Barton Biggs - "We Are In For the Mother of All Bear Market Rallies"
A little background on Barton Biggs before we start. He currently runs Traxis Partners, which is a hedge fund that is based in New York City. Before that, Biggs was the "chief global strategist" at Mo...
Citigroup Is Going To Have A Hard Time Finding a Buyer
In case you haven't heard - Citigroup is on the brink of collapsing.
Citigroup, the massive financial conglomerate that employs hundreds of thousands of people, is currently discussing its "options...
Eight Major Stock Market Indexes Are Down At Least 60% in 2008
The "Great Crash of 2008" has spared no market in 2008. The US indexes are down. The Canadian indexes are down. The UK indexes are down. And on and on.
Some markets have been hit harder than others...
What's Wrong with Berkshire Hathaway?
There are a few things that I'm used to.
The Cubs not winning the World Series. Rain on my days off. Berkshire Hathaway being a steady ship in a sea of volatility.
Something strange is happening...
101 of All S&P 500 Stocks Now Trading for Less than $10 Per Share
Want to know just how bad things are right now?
I came across some interesting data earlier today that illustrates just how historically weak the major market indexes are right now.
Most people ...
Citadel's Kensington Global Strategies Fund, Wellington LLC Fund Have Their Counterparty Credit Ratings Cut by S&P
More bad news for Citadel today.
The hedge fund giant suffered a counterparty credit rating cut on its two biggest funds, Citadel Kensington Global Strategies Fund Ltd and the Citadel Wellington LL...
Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Jose and Atlanta Want To Be Bailed Out as Well
The mayors of four major cities in the United States - Philadelphia, Atlanta, Phoenix and San Jose - all made their voices heard earlier this week.
We'd like to be bailed out as well.
San Jose M...
$60 Billion Dollars in Hedge Fund Investor Redemptions in October
The hedge fund industry suffered on two fronts in October.
Not only did the hedge fund industry turn in one of its worst one-month performances ever, but it also buckled under a wave of investor re...
Best Buy: "Most Difficult Climate We've Ever Seen"
Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson sounded a warning earlier this morning that sent the shares of Best Buy (and many other retailers) plummeting to the Earth - "this is the most difficult climate we've ever s...
Citadel Continues to Deny, Deny, Deny
The Wall Street Journal continues to publish stories about the Citadel Investment Group, and the company continues to assert that they are not true.
A few weeks ago, the Wall Street Journal publish...
Deutsche Bank Drops the Hammer on General Motors: "Shares are Worthless"
Deutsche Bank analyst Rod Lache added to General Motor's misery on Monday morning by proclaiming that the common shares in the company are worthless. He reduced his rating to a sell and declared that ...
Icahn Enterprises GP Inc. Feeling the Pinch as Well
Carl Icahn, the legendary activist investor who has been a thorn in the sides of many CEOs, has been forced to pour more of his own money into Icahn Enterprises GP Inc. to deal with a flood of redempt...
Platinum Grove Asset Management LP, Another Myron Scholes Hedge Fund, Is Struggling As Well
Myron Scholes - if you follow the world of hedge funds, then that name should ring a bell.
Scholes, who won a Nobel Prize in economics, was a founding partner in the now infamous LTCM fund. LTCM fa...
Jerry Yang to Microsoft: Buy Us. Please?
Is Jerry Yang the most unpopular CEO of a publicly traded technology company right now?
Probably.
Jerry Yang and company famously rebuffed Microsoft and Steve Ballmer earlier this year. Microsof...
Blue Mountain Capital Management LLC Halts Redemptions in Its Blue Mountain Credit Alternatives Fund
Investor redemptions in large hedge funds are certainly nothing new, especially in this crippling environment. The average hedge fund is down just over 20% on the year, and investors are pulling their...
Tight Credit, Low Consumer Confidence and High Gas Prices Conspiring to Destroy the US Auto Industry
General Motors and Ford just released their October sales numbers, and the data wasn't pretty.
October sales for General Motors tanked 45% from October of last year, an incredibly violent drop that...
HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index Down 19.6% YTD
The HFRX (Hedge Fund Research, Inc) Global Hedge Fund Index was down 19.6% for the year as of October 30th, 2008 (link below), confirming fears that the losses sustained by the global hedge fund indus...
Can the Citadel Investment Group Survive?
This prolonged (and violent) market downturn has called into question the long-term viability of many hedge funds. Manny Roman, co-chief executive of GLG Partners, recently stated that he believes tha...
Emerging Markets in Trouble Due to Global Financial Crisis
Most people tend to focus on the rapidly deteriorating fortunes of the United States and Western Europe as a result of the global financial contagion.
However, things are REALLY bad in emerging mar...
Major Stock Market Crash Coming on Friday?
Will October 24th, 2008 enter the history books as "Black Friday"?
I always roll my eyes at people who proclaim that a certain day will end up being a "Black" anything, but today seems a bit dif...
Russian and Icelandic Stock Markets Continue to Take It on the Chin
Every major stock market index in the world is down this year. Some are down more than others, but you'd be very hard-pressed to find an index that isn't down at least 40% on the year. The global fina...
A Tale of Two Companies: McDonald's vs Starbucks
I remember reading about McDonald's and Starbucks "going to war" not that long ago. McDonald's was going to start serving gourmet coffee in an attempt to lure some of the Starbucks client base, while ...
Hedge Fund Industry Posts Worst Month Since At Least 2000
A recent article in Bloomberg (link below) pointed out that the hedge fund industry posted its worst month in September since at least 2000. The article pointed to the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index as ...
Millenium Global Investments Closes Their Emerging Credit Fund
Another hedge fund bit the dust on Tuesday, after Millenium Global Investments announced that they were shuttering their Millenium Global Emerging Credit Fund. The fund has a reported $800 million dol...
What Have Been the Worst Global Housing Markets of 2008?
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) recently published their "World Economic Outlook" for October 2008. The subtitle of the report was "Financial Stress, Downtowns and Recoveries."
There is an i...
State And Federal Prosecutors Investigating Trading in Credit-Default Swaps
According to an article published this morning on the New York Times web site, New York state and federal prosecutors have now turned their attention to the shadowy and often misunderstood world of cr...
Lehman Brothers Is the Focus of Three U.S. Grand Jury Investigations
According to an article recently published on Bloomberg.com, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is now the subject of three United States grand jury investigations. Lehman bankruptcy lawyer Harvey Miller a...
The Stock Market Crash of 1987 (Black Monday) Revisited
The North American stock exchanges have weathered a number of fierce storms during their lifetimes. You had the Great Depression. You had 9/11. You had the 1973 oil crisis and resulting dramatic spike...
Some Notable Hedge Fund Heavyweights, Including Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors, Liquidated Many of Their Positions in Recent Days
Many people figured that last week's bloodbath was helped along by many hedge funds liquidating equity positions due to redemption demands. An article out on WSJ.com tonight (link below) explains that...
How Have The Major North American Stock Market Indexes Performed Short-Term After Very Bad Years?
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite and S+P 500 have all performed very well since their inceptions. Of the three indexes, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was the only one that existed...
2008 Is On the Verge of Becoming the Worst Year Ever for the Nasdaq Composite
The Nasdaq was founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers. Over the past 10-15 years, the Nasdaq has become arguably the most-watched stock exchange in the world, due to its inc...
When Will the Stock Market Hit Bottom?
I hear this question multiple times per day, especially on TV. Will the market plummeting on an almost daily basis, this question is on the forefront of many people's minds. You have to remember that ...
The Worst Years in the History of the Dow Jones Industrial Average
2008 is certainly shaping up to be a horrendous year for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). The credit markets have seized up, banks aren't lending to each other and consumers are starting to dr...
Aggressive Interest Rate Cut by Australia's Central Bank Likely Start of Coordinated Global Rate Cuts
Wondering why Asian markets are rallying tonight after the DJIA and Nasdaq were slaughtered on Monday?
Australia's Central Bank cut its benchmark interest rate by one full percentage point tonig...
Does the PPT (Plunge Protection Team) Actually Exist?
After trading down as much as 800 points earlier today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average made a dramatic turnaround late in the day, and "only" ended up closing down 350 points.
Whenever the mar...
Neel Kashkari, 35 Year Old Advisor To Henry Paulson, To Oversee $700 Billion Dollar Bailout Program
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, 35 year-old Neel Kashkari is being tapped by Henry Paulson to "oversee the $700 billion dollar program to buy distressed assets from financial insti...
What Now for the Financial Markets?
It's Friday evening. The $700 billion dollar bailout (actually, it's more than that, but whatever) has now been passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and signed into law by Presid...
United States National Debt Tops Ten Trillion Dollars for the First Time
According to Treasury Direct (a United States Government website, link below), the total public debt outstanding for the United States of America topped ten trillion dollars for the first time as of ...
The Stock Market Plunge on Monday Changed Many People's Minds About the Bailout
As Washington toiled to come together to create a workable $700 billion dollar bailout bill this past weekend, many Americans voiced their firm opposition to the plan. Many people questioned "why they...
John Paulson Forced to Reveal His Big Short Positions in UK Banks
John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who made a name for himself after betting heavily against the US housing market, was forced to reveal his company's short positions in certain UK financial stocks ...
Five of the Biggest One-Day Drops in the History of the Nasdaq
Like any other exchange in the world, the Nasdaq has seen its share of incredible highs and depressing lows. At this moment in time, investor confidence may be the lowest it has ever been for a very l...
The Church of England Attacks Short-Sellers and Debt Traders
It's just not a fun time to be a short-seller right now. Financial markets worldwide are imploding, and more and more people are pointing their fingers of blame at one source: short-sellers. In the ey...
Washington Mutual's New CEO Alan H. Fishman Received Twenty Million Dollars For Just 17 Days of Work
It's good work if you can get it.
Alan H. Fishman, the recently hired CEO of the now J.P. Morgan-owned Washington Mutual Bank, will reportedly receive close to $20 million dollars IN CASH for his q...
FDIC Seizes Washington Mutual; JP Morgan Swoops In and Buy Assets On the Cheap
Thursday was another historic day as the largest ever U.S. bank failure took place. Washington Mutual, an enormous bank with approximately $310 billion dollars in assets, was officially seized by the ...
Why Is IBM On the Prohibited Short Sale List?
On September 24th, 2008, a number of companies (twelve in total) were added to the list of NYSE companies that are on the banned short sale list. These companies included H&R Block, Credicorp, Arbor R...
Home Equity Withdrawals Drop to $24 Billion From $700 Billion Dollars in 2005
The rapidly increasing housing market from 2001 to 2006 enabled many Americans to spend more than they were making.
Most Americans who purchased their home anytime before 2005 saw the valu...
Warren Buffett Scores Sweetheart Goldman Sachs Deal
Warren Buffett continued his buying rampage on Tuesday by securing himself and the rest of the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders a sweetheart deal with Goldman Sachs.
The deal will see Warre...
Proposed Federal Bailout Numbers: Nearly $2 Trillion Dollars and Counting
We are living in extraordinary times right now. College students will be studying the events from 2008 in economics classes 20-30 years from now. Some people don't understand the sheer magnitude of wh...
The Biggest One Day Gains (and Losses) For the Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was a rollercoaster this past week as the world dealt with a quickly escalating financial crisis.
The daily swings seemed massive. However, on a historical scale, t...
British Ban on Short Selling Will Prove To Be Disastrous For Some Hedge Funds
The temporary ban on the short-selling of certain firms in the United Kingdom will prove to be disastrous for some hedge funds, as they were forced to cover their positions at inopportune times and po...
Warren Buffett Putting Berkshire Hathaway Money to Work In Face of Crumbling Market
Warren Buffett has long been lamenting the lack of attractive investment opportunities in the overheated US markets. Buffett was forced to travel overseas to look for places to invest Berkshire Hathaw...
Financial Sector Has Lost Well Over a Trillion Dollars In Market Capitalization Since October of 2007
I was scrolling through TechCrunch and noticed an article on their site titled "The Mess on Wall Street: Four Trillion Dollars Down the Drain." The article linked to a New York Times graphic that illu...
Government To Provide Secured Loan to AIG and Take an 80 Percent Stake in the Company
Another day, another government bailout.
Reports are circulating that the Federal Reserve will be providing an $85 BILLION dollar bridge loan (that's billion) to AIG and will also be taking an 80% ...
The Stock Market Goes Into Complete Meltdown Mode on Monday
Investors didn't react favorably (obviously) to news out over the weekend that Lehman Brothers was going to be filing for bankruptcy. Not only that, but Merrill Lynch agreed to be bought out by Bank o...
Merrill Lynch Agrees to Buyout From Bank of America; The Financial Landscape Continues to Abruptly Change
What a weekend! Lehman Brothers is on the brink of a disastrous bankruptcy; American International Group is likely going to undertake major asset sales in order to keep the company solvent; and now Me...
Soros Fund Management LLC Has Large Exposure to Lehman Brothers
Just like when Bear Stearns plunged earlier in the year, Lehman Brothers is plunging and stinging many of the hedge funds that made large investments in it.
Funds such as Wel... RK Capital Management LLP Down As Much as 30% in AugustAccording to an article that was recently published on Bloomberg (link below), RK Capital Management's various funds fell as much as 30% in August, mainly due to a rapid drop in the price of aluminum ... Some United Kingdom Homeowners May Have to Wait Until 2016 For Their Home Values to Recover to 2007 LevelsAccording to an article that was recently released on Mail Online, some UK homeowners who purchased their homes in the past couple of years may have to wait until 2016 for their investments to break e... Hedge Fund Capital Inflows Have Slowed to a Trickle in 2008Is the bloom finally coming off of the hedge fund rose?
According to Wall Street & Technology (link below), capital inflows for hedge funds were a measly $16.4 billion dollars in the first quarter... Ospraie Management LP Is Shutting Its Ospriae FundOspraie Management LP sent a letter to its investors on Tuesday, informing them that the company would be shutting down the popular Ospriae Fund. The reason? A 38.59% decline so far... Atticus Capital Has Lost Over Five Billion Dollars in 2008According to various sources (Forbes, Reuters and others), activist hedge fund Atticus Capital has dropped over five billion dollars so far in 2008. The company was reported to be controlling over $20... Another Friday, Another Bank Failure; FDIC May Borrow Money from U.S. TreasuryAnother Friday, another bank failure in the United States. This time it was Integrity Bancshares Inc. of Alpharetta, Georgia. This marks the 10th bank failure of the year so far.
Nasdaq Delistings Way Up in 2008
The major stock exchanges (such as the Nasdaq and NYSE) are encountering weakness from all sides in 2008. Not only has the IPO market slowed considerably (many companies are sagely waiting until the m...
Ron Insana Closing Insana Capital Partners "Legends" Hedge Fund
The idea was a simple one.
Ron Insana would open a hedge fund called "Legends". The hedge fund would be a "fund of funds", and would allow investors to invest in hedge funds that they norm...
Andor Capital Management LLC Shutting Its Doors
It's the end of an era as Andor Capital Management LLC has announced that it will be closing its doors in October.
According to a recent WSJ article titled "Andor Closin...
BP Capital Drops in July
BP Capital, the hedge fund run by famed investor T. Boone Pickens, suffered a 35% drop in the commodity half of its fund in July, according to a recent report in the New York Post. The article goes on...
14% of Americans Believe That the Country is Moving in the Right Direction
According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, only 14% of Americans surveyed believe that the country is headed in the right direction. This doesn't refer to just the economy...
Many People Having Their Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) Suspended or Reduced In Wake of Housing Downturn
When the housing market was booming just a few short years ago, many homeowners tapped the equity in their homes by taking out a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit). With home values...
How The Internet Bubble Was Similar to the Housing Bubble
There are actually quite a few similarities between the Internet bubble (last half of the 90's until mid 2000) and the most recent housing bubble in the United States. By drawing si...
Bottom in the California Real Estate Market?
To say that the real estate market in many parts of California has taken a beating would be an extreme understatement.
The market has been completely taken apart in the ...
The Ten Worst (Projected) Real Estate Markets in the United States
There is no such thing as a general "real estate market" - rather, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller real estate markets that can perform completely independently of ...
What is the "Problem Bank List", and Is My Bank On It?
The FDIC (or The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) reported that 90 banks, or a full 1.1% of the banks that fall under its watchful eye, landed on their "problem bank list" in ...
George Bush to Ken Wilson: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Needs Your Help
"Is there a Goldman Sachs employee in the house?"
The Wall Street Journal (link below) recently reported that Ken Wilson (chairman of the Goldman Sachs Financial Institut...
Banks to the SEC - We'd Like Some Protection From Short-Sellers Too
Did the SEC really expect anything different?
Recently (in case you have been living under a rock), the SEC announced that they would be implemen...
Short-Selling is Not the Problem
Short-selling has been in the news quite a bit over the past week. Just now, as I am viewing my Google News page, a story on short-selling is the main story at the top of the page.
Just re...
SEC To (Temporarily) Halt Naked Short Selling on Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Seventeen Brokers
Ok, this is too funny.
The SEC announced today that short-sellers would have to "pre-borrow" stock in order to bet against the price of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and b...
Warren Buffett: "US Already in a Recession"
In an interview published in Germany's Der Spiegel weekly on Sunday, Warren Buffett sought to douse any Memorial Day holiday cheer by proclaiming that the United States was "already in a recession". <...
How Long Will It Take the Real Estate Market in the United States to Recover? Some Perspective from the Past 30 Years
Over the past thirty years, the overall real estate market in the United States has fluctuated wildly due to varying reasons. You had the crippling recession in the early 1980s. You had the stock mark...
Vallejo (A City) Is Planning on Filing for Bankruptcy
Vallejo is not a person. Vallejo is not a publicly traded company. Vallejo is a city located in the northern half of California. And Vallejo, located in the western part of Solano County, is planning ...
National Association of Realtors: "Home Sales Should Start Improving by the Summer"
The National Association of Realtors put out a press release today titled "Soft Existing-Home Sales Expected Near-Term But to Rise Midsummer".
The National Associatio...
Horizon Asset Management Down More Than 20 Percent in Q1 2008
The turbulent markets have exacted a toll on another extremely large family of funds, as Horizon Asset Management slid more than 20% in the first quarter of 2008.
Hor...
500 Foreclosures PER DAY in California During the First Three Months of 2008
If you want a first-hand view of just how particularly gruesome this real estate downtown has been, then look no further than California.
DataQuick, a company based o...
Five Signs That We May Be Near a Bottom in the US Housing Market
You may watch television or read your newspaper on a daily basis and come to the conclusion that the US housing market will never recover. The industry housing industry seems to be cloaked in doom and...
Pardus Capital Management LP Halts Investor Redemptions
Another large, notable hedge fund has halted (temporarily) redemptions from its fund.
Pardus Capital Management manages around $2 billion dollars.
John Meriwether Back in the News, For All of the Wrong Reasons
A John Meriwether fund is in trouble again.
John Meriwether doesn't ring a bell?
He was the man behind Long Term Capital Management (L...
Steps That You Can Take To Avoid a Foreclosure on Your Home
Foreclosures are a growing problem in the United States and other parts of the world.
A foreclosure, in simple terms, is typically when an owner of a property violate...
$10 Per Share for Bear Stearns?
Multiple news outlets tonight are reporting that JP Morgan Chase Co. is in talks to increase its offer for Bear Stearns from $2 per share up to $10 per share.
Apparently JP Morgan figures that the ...
The Phoenix and Miami Condo Markets - Can They Recover, and if so, When?
If you want to sum up the current state of the real estate market (especially in markets such as Phoenix and Miami), you could use just a couple of words.
Supply outweighing demand.
Like anythin...
Wall Street Job Market Falling Apart
Given the turmoil in the financial services market, now is not a good time to be a newly-graduated MBA holder, looking for a job on Wall Street.
With many hedge funds going belly-up and the bottom ...
Endeavor Capital Loses 27% In One Day
According to the Financial Times, Endeavor Capital, a three billion dollar London-based hedge fund, lost more than a quarter of its value in one day. This drubbing occurred on Monday, the same day tha...
Bear Stearns Lawsuits: A Trickle Will Soon Become a Flood
The first of many class action lawsuits against Bear Stearns has been filed this week in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. One of the first companies that I have ...
JP Morgan Buys Bear Stearns for $2 Per Share
Yes, you read that right.
Bear Stearns, one of the biggest and respected investment banks in the world, has agreed to be purchased by JP Morgan Chase for $2 per share, which works out to around $23...
Carlyle Capital Corporation Gets Pounded After Failing to Meet Margin Calls
Carlyle Capital Corporation touched off a wave of selling on Thursday, especially in mortgage real estate investment trusts, after the company failed to meet some of its margin calls and received a de...
Thornburg Mortgage (TMA) To Go Under?
There is news out in the aftermarket today (Wednesday) regarding Thornburg Mortgage, and it's not pretty if you are a common shareholder.
Thornburg announced that due to its failure to meet a $28 m...
Focus Capital is the Latest Hedge Fund Casualty
Focus Capital, a one billion dollar hedge fund (or at least, it used to be a one billion dollar hedge fund) based out of New York, announced that it was going to be liquidating its portfolio and shutt...
Is Thornburg Mortgage In Danger of Falling into Bankruptcy?
It certainly hasn't been a good couple of weeks for Thornburg Mortgage.
Their stock, trading at almost $12 just a few short weeks ago, continued to plummet on Monday after the company announced tha...
Blue River Asset Management Avoids Collapse By Raising $100 Million in New Capital
Hedge fund firm Blue River Asset Management managed to avoid the fates of several other prominent hedge funds (as in, total collapse) by raising $100 million in new capital from existing and new inves...
One Man's Pain is Another Man's Gain; Pimco Looking to Swoop in and Buy Mortgage and Municipal Debt
Over the past week or so, we've heard of three different situations in which companies have had to dump high-quality assets such as municipal bonds and mortgage loans because of forced margin calls.
...
Peloton Partners LLP Asset Seizures A Sign of Things to Come for Hedge Funds?
Yesterday we told you that Peloton Partners had decided to shut down their "ABS Master Fund", a fund that had bet against the subprime credit market and had made over 87% for its shareholders last yea...
Peloton Partners LLP To Shut Down ABS Fund; Halts Redemptions for Multi-Strategy Fund
Another day, another hedge fund casualty.
Today, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters both announced that Peloton Partners LLP would be closing its $2 billion dollar ABS fund and temporarily halting...
Are We Nearing a Bottom in the US Housing Market?
This may seem like a laughable point to even consider, given the current somber mood that surrounds the American housing market.
This has been a "perfect storm" of negativity. First you had the col...
Panicking During A Market Meltdown Probably Means That Your Portfolio Diversification Strategy is Out of Whack
I don't care how old you are. I don't care if you are 20 years old or 55 years old.
If word of a market meltdown has you sitting up at night, sweating profusely and worrying about your portfolio, t...
Problems? What Problems? Wall Street's Five Biggest Firms Dish Out $39 Billion in Bonuses in 2007
Forget about the fact that most of these firms were absolutely taken apart in 2007 due to the subprime mortgage mess and related quant fund problems.
Forget about the fact that the combined market ...
2007 Worst Year for US Housing Market Since Great Depression
On Thursday there were a couple of datapoints that were released that spelled out exactly how bad the US housing market was in 2007.
First off, sales of existing single-family homes dropped 13% in ...
Sensex Crash | The Sensex is Crashing
Indian stock analysts and economists tried to sooth the growing fears of Indian and international investors as the Sensex plummeted on Monday and Tuesday. World markets were torpedoed on Monday and Tu...
Lower Valuations + Weak American Dollar + Desperation = Foreign Buying Bonanza of American Companies
I remember back to the late 1990's when the US dollar was a pillar of strength. I remember hearing about the speculations and conspiracy theories that the US government was keeping their dollar strong...
What Is a "Recession"?
A "recession" is quite a misunderstood event. If you watch the news at all, then I am sure that you have heard this word quite often over the past few months. Many economists and "talking heads" on TV...
Is the Credit Card Industry Next to Feel the Pinch?
A few years ago, there were plenty of easy ways to raise money to support your lifestyle, especially if you were a homeowner.
You could buy a house and then flip it a year later for a nice big prof...
More Gloomy News for the US Housing Market
Not to be a "doom and gloomer" but the situation in the US housing market seemingly worsens by the day. Tuesday was no different as there were multiple pieces of bad news that sent the markets reeling...
The Effects of a Falling US Dollar on the Economy of the United States
Many people tend to shrug off news reports that talk about the plunging US dollar. "A rising or falling dollar doesn't really effect me, so why should I care?" The fact of the matter is that a droppin...
Traders at Goldman Sachs Banked Big Profits Betting on Mortgage Meltdown
Have you been wondering why Goldman Sachs have been avoiding the punishment that is being meted out to other big brokerages this year? Wonder why Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers have a...
Countrywide Financial Currently Has Over 14,000 Homes Offered for Sale on their Website
Not to be a harbinger of doom here, but this is a number that clearly illustrates: a) the overall problems with the United States housing market and b) the overall problems that Countrywide Financial ...
Kenneth Heebner Cashes In Big on Countrywide, Sears Short Sales
For every person that is losing money in equities such as Countrywide and Sears, there is someone on the other side, raking in the cash.
One is those people is Kenneth Heebner, manager of the CGM F...
New Wave of Quant Fund Trouble Coming
I'm telling you right now - you are going to be hearing about another wave of quant fund selling and implosions any day now.
Quant funds are a funny thing - they work until they don't work. And whe...
The Current Global Economic Situation is Extra Scary
I've been pretty heavily involved in studying economics and the capital markets for nearly a decade now. This is by FAR the worst economic situation that we've found ourselves in over the past few dec...
Speculators Drove the Housing Market Higher, and Now They Are Bringing it Down
The housing market in the US has been driven largely by speculators, and now is fading so quickly due to speculators pulling out of the market as fast as they can.
The housing market is just like a...
Should the US Government Bail out Homeowners?
The answer to this question is a bit more complicated than you might think.
I bet that the average person read the title of this article and had an immediate reaction to the question. The problem i...
Where to Now for Real Estate Values?
This is certainly a strange time in the US housing market.
You have had an absolutely incredible bull run in housing values over the past 10 years. If you bought a home or apartment in pretty much ...
Could Countrywide Financial (CFC) Possibly Go Bankrupt?
Bankruptcy is a possible scenario for Countrywide Financial Merrill Lynch said on Wednesday, sending the stock tumbling almost 13% to close at $21.29.
This news came as a surprise to many people, w...
KKR IPO Needs to Be Postponed
I feel like Dr. Obvious for even saying this, but KKR really needs to stop kidding themselves when it comes to their IPO, and announce publicly that they will be delaying their IPO. I feel bad for peo...
Quant Hedge Funds: How Did They Lose So Much Money?
Many people out there are probably confused when they hear about quant hedge funds taking huge losses over just a couple of days at the beginning of August. How does a "market neutral" fund suddenly t...
Might The New York Real Estate Market Finally Slow Down?
The New York real estate market has been hot for years now, and despite the real estate slowdown that most of the rest of the country is seeing, the New York real estate market continues to be hot. De...
Goldman Sachs Global Equity Fund Gets 3 Billion Dollar Bailout
Goldman Sachs on Monday announced that they would be sinking $2 billion dollars of their own money into the deeply troubled Global Equity Opportunities Fund, after the fund reported a 28% decline just...
Tykhe Capital: Some Funds Down as Much as 31% Month to Date
Sorry to pile on the bad news, but it's bad out there in quant land.
Tykhe Capital, which runs a number of statistical arbitrage and quantitative long/short funds, has reported that as of August 9t...
Goldman Sachs Global Alpha Hedge Fund Down 26% in 2007
Is another major quant hedge fund about to bite the bullet?
Several investors in the private fund have told the press that the Global Alpha hedge fund has dropped 26% in value so far in 2007, follo...
Liquidation of Quant Hedge Fund Positions Behind Market Fluctuations?
This has not been a good year to run a quant hedge fund.
One after another, these "market neutral" hedge funds are getting taken apart, with most of the carnage coming this summer after the subprim...
Is the Current Housing Market One of the Biggest Bubbles in History?
In case you have been sleeping under a rock, the subprime mortgage industry in the United States has been absolutely taken apart in recent months. The rout in the sub-prime market has wiped literally ...
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