Some market strategists had been warning of a market reversal, and had been telling us that low levels of volatility couldn’t continue. If you keep forecasting a market drop long enough you’ll be right. Even for those of us who don’t focus much attention on market timing and therefore ought not to care, it’s never […]
This weekend the Striking Price column in Barron’s referred to the Options Industry Council’s educational series of videos. I have to say I have mixed feelings on the topic. On the positive side of course educating investors is a good thing. The videos currently available are extremely basic, offering definitions on terms such as “strike price” […]
The California Public Employee Retirement System (CalPERS) recently announced they were closing down their $4.1 billion hedge fund program. I don’t know if they read The Hedge Fund Mirage. It might have saved them some time. The New York Times has an interesting perspective.
CalPERS’ $4 billion hedge fund portfolio will cause barely a ripple in the $2.5 trillion hedge fund industry as it’s redeemed over the next several quarters. Some speculate that their decision will cause other public pension funds to re-examine their commitment to hedge funds, although you’re unlikely to find a public pension trustee who will […]
The Economist is my favorite magazine. Since I joined the 21st century and started downloading it on my Samsung tablet, I can now read it on Thursday nights when it’s published instead of waiting for my physical copy to arrive by mail, on Saturday (if I’m lucky). The writing is invariably high quality and typically […]
For individual investors seeking advice, the world they enter can be a confusing place. I’m thinking here of the different types of financial advisors that offer to help investors deploy their capital. Non-finance people shouldn’t need to bother themselves with subtle elements of the investing regulatory landscape, but there are some things they’re better off […]
Sometimes being invested in a stock can feel like being trapped while the enemy takes shots at you from all sides. You were expecting reinforcements to arrive at this exact spot, and while you know you can hang on it sure would be nice to not be fighting this battle alone. Then, out of nowhere […]
It’s an odd phenomenon that, although capitalism as a philosophy is built around the meritocracy of free markets, in the area of corporate governance the power of profit maximization has often failed to dump ineffective boards of directors and/or management in favor of more competent people. Boards are usually made up of invited friends, and sometimes […]
The Kinder Morgan transaction announced Sunday night represents a new paradigm for Master Limited Partnership (MLP) investors. Like any new paradigm, digesting its impact takes some time. Rich Kinder, CEO and largest owner of the eponymous firm that controls Kinder Morgan Partners (KMP) and El Paso (EPB) was one of the early users of the […]
On Sunday evening Rich Kinder, CEO of Kinder Morgan Inc (KMI) announced the transaction that many had been expecting as a response to the persistently low price of Kinder Morgan Partners (KMP) and El Paso (EPB), two MLPs in which KMI owns the General Partner (GP). The problem was that Kinder expects an increasing amount […]
