The Economist Weighs in on The Hedge Fund Mirage
http://www.economist.com/node/21542452
Author Archive for: Simon Lack
Entries by Simon Lack
Hungary Takes Us Back to the Future
Those of us who traded Foreign Exchange in the early 90s will have noticed something familiar today. A country is attempting to fend of a speculative attack on its currency by raising interest rates. Hungary, on the edge of the Euro-zone and its current recession, is expecting barely positive GDP growth this year of 0.5% […]
Operation Twist Claims a Victim
Morningstar reported through the Wall Street Journal that PIMCO’s $244BN Total Return Fund (PTRRX) suffered the first outflow on its history last year. $5BN left the fund in 2011 including $1.4BN in December as investors soured on PIMCO’s mis-timed trades in U.S. government bonds. Bill Gross hasn’t achieved what he has by accident, and no […]
Quarterly Outlook
That the world’s a risky place has not escaped the recent attention of investors. The potential demise of the European single currency and perhaps with it European banks and the European project itself looms large over every investment decision, and has for many months. Economic slowdown in China, the uncertain consequences of the Arab Spring […]
"Never in the history of Finance was so much charged by so many for so little."
From my book, with apologies to Sir Winston Churchill whose speech following the Battle of Britain in 1940 inspired this line. Fees have, without doubt been part of the problem for hedge fund investors. The financial press is picking up the story and some of the articles are linked on the book’s website. Meanwhile, sales […]
Cheap Natural Gas is Creating its own Demand
Last week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued emission standards tightening the rules surrounding the output of mercury and other harmful pollutants. These standards will have the practical effect of making natural gas relatively more attractive than coal for electricity generation since coal-burning plants require the installation of expensive “scrubbers” to clean the emissions they […]
Bloomberg TV 1:35PM
I’ll be discussing my book.
Why The Mario Put is Bullish for Stocks
It’s taken many observers including me longer than it might to comprehend, but ECB chairman Mario Draghi has done something that should be very bullish for U.S. stocks. Floyd Norris noted some of the ramifications in today’s New York Times. The Long Term Repurchase Operation (LTRO) in effect is an extension of credit from the […]
The (99%) Funny Side of Hedge Funds
You’d think it would be hard to find much humorous in the kind of year hedge funds have had – down 8.5% for the year in their second worst performance in history. But there can be, depending on your perspective. When I summarize my book, The Hedge Fund Mirage with the simple explanation that all the money ever […]
Why the Euro is Likely to Remain a Good Short, and Another Good Year in MLPs
Euroland euphoria has broken out – so say Ambrose Evans-Pritchard and Louise Armitstead of the Daily Telegraph. Mario Draghi rode to the rescue with Long Term Repo Operations (LTRO), and it’s now reported that Eurozone banks borrowed 489 billion Euros from the ECB for three years. If they are so moved they can engage in the carry trade, […]
