Larry Hirshik is both a good friend of mine and our talented trader at SL Advisors. We’ve been friends for over 25 years. Larry and I both spent many years trading interest rate derivatives – eurodollar futures, interest rate swaps and government securities. Interest rate risk has been a topic that consumed much of our […]
I spent an interesting morning yesterday at the AR Symposium, a well-organized get together of hedge fund industry professionals. I had been asked to chair a panel titled “What do investors want and how do they want it”. A year ago I wrote an article pointing out that hedge fund investors in aggregate would have […]
Another near death experience in equity markets avoided – at least for now. Kevin KAL Kallaugher’s cartoon in last month’s newsletter could scarcely have been better timed (if you missed it October’s letter is available on our website). Stepping back to examine levels of risk seems a reasonable place to start. There is perhaps no […]
What could be more appropriate than Greece delivering a lesson in democracy. The word itself is derived from the Greek language. Democracy began in Greece and is returning there. How very appropriate. The enduring weakness of the EU has been its management by technocrats with often scant regard for popular opinion. The beauty of a […]
It’s not just the last decade that’s been harsh on stocks. A report from Jim Bianco’s eponymous research company calculates that for the past thirty years treasury bonds have outperformed stocks. It’s the first thirty year period since 1861 that this has happened according to research on the topic by Jeremy Siegel. What could be […]
What exactly is a Credit Default Swap (CDS) on Greece worth? It seems likely that the International Swaps Dealers Association (ISDA), the industry body that rules on such things, will soon confirm that the 50% write-down on Greek debt accepted by the banks does not constitute a credit event, because it was accepted voluntarily by the banks […]
The Federal Reserve’s wealth transfer strategy of shifting purchasing power from savers to borrowers has other unintended consequences apart from plundering the thrifty in favor of the profligate. If you run a fixed income fund, ten-year treasury notes with a 2% handle doesn’t create much raw material from which to manufacture some income for your […]
Sometimes you feel as if you’d like the world to stop right where it is. For most investors, arriving at work and checking their portfolios over coffee this morning should be one of the most pleasant beverages they’ve consumed in many months. After the misery of the third quarter culminating in September’s testing of every […]
The FT notes in an article this morning how M&A activity in the shale gas arena reached almost $50BN during the third quarter, a 135% jump on a year ago. Some deals were large and notable, such as Kinder Morgan’s (KMP) purchase of El Paso. Others took place out of the spotlight, but what is clearly taking place […]
So says Don Sturm, owner of two community banks in Colorado. And Mr. Sturm’s complaint is not that he’s been amply paid (although he may have), but that depositors are flooding in at a rate that outstrips his banks’ ability to usefully redeploy the money. This is QE2 at ground level. Investors fleeing the treacherous […]
