Main News

 

It’s been a bloody summer for quant managers. While much of the focus has been on quantitatively managed hedge funds run by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Applied Quantitative Research Capital...

 

It’s officially gut-check time for many pension funds.William Atwood, executive director for the $12.4 billion Illinois State Board of Investment, Chicago, said he is calling his fixed-income...

 

BUSINESS BRIEFS: http://www.nypost.com/seven/08202007/business/business_briefs_business_.htm
AP, Bloomberg, Reuters, N.Y. Post
Fund collapse Avendis Group sus pended withdrawals from its Avendis En hanced Income Fund until at least October be cause of "liquidity pres sure." The hedge fund won't calculate its net asset value until at least Oct. 1. Its assets were valued at $65.9 MM...

 

Deutsche Bank trading desk loses ?100m in credit markets
Deutsche Bank's Principal Strategies Group, a proprietary trading desk, has lost about ?100m ($135m) in credit-market trade in the past month.  (The Wall Street Journal)
http://mail2.efnmail.co.uk/r/312357/MTk4MTI1OjE0ODUy/

 

 

 

Hedge fund performance to August 10
eFinancial News Mon, 20 Aug 2007 4:33 AM PDT
An $11bn (€8.2bn) hedge fund run by US manager Caxton Associates lost more than 5% in the first two weeks of August, one of at least 18 well-established global macro funds to show losses so far this month.

 

Credit market volatility and transparency concerns are causing material differences between technical and fundamental values in both equities and fixed income markets.

Full Story...

 

A hedge fund run by highly rated US manager Jeffrey Gendell is the biggest faller in the sector this year, losing 41.9% ...
eFinancial News Mon, 20 Aug 2007 1:35 AM PDT
A hedge fund run by highly rated US manager Jeffrey Gendell is the biggest faller in the sector this year, losing 41.9% of its value in the seven months to the end of July.

 

 

 

 

AQR Quant Fund Reverses Some Losses, Flat YTD
Reuters - Monday August 20, 08:52 BST

 

Financial News: Hedge Funds In Flight To Quality
Source: CNNMoney.com
Prime brokers have seen a flight to quality by hedge fund clients, who have transferred up to $50 billion (EUR37 billion) of assets from higher-risk banks to the prime brokerage operations of commercial banks with bigger balance sheets and better credit ratings. More... <http://www.hedgefund-index.com/newstoday.asp>

 

Monsoon Capital to reopen India flagship fund
Source: The Economic Times
At a time when the Indian equity market has been volatile, a top performing US-based, India-dedicated hedge fund has decided to reopen one of its main funds to raise additional capital. More... <http://www.hedgefund-index.com/newstoday.asp>

 

Citadel comes to Sentinel's rescue; purchases $500 MM in assets

 

GLG on the NYSE

Last March, Nicolas Berggruen, founder and president of New York–based family office Berggruen Holdings, approached Noam Gottesman, a founder and co-chairman of London hedge fund firm GLG Partners, with a bold proposal: He suggested that GLG go public on the New York Stock Exchange — through a reverse acquisition.  Click here to continue reading this story.

 

 

Sophisticated technology aimed at properly assessing risk associated with trading asset-backed securities are essential for any of today’s large banks but according to experts, this much-needed technology could also be backfiring all the same.

Full Story...

 

Banks face rough risk management ride
The recent turmoil in financial markets has exposed many limitations, from the inability of investors to grasp the full extent of the risks to which they are exposed, to the relative paucity in the English language of synonyms for "panic" and "crisis".
http://mail2.efnmail.co.uk/r/312257/MTk4MTI1OjE0ODUx/

 

 

Arguing on shaky ground
Quake-prone South-East Asia may go nuclear
Full article

 

Risky business

 

 

AUSTIN, Texas — T. Britton Harris IV, chief investment officer of the $112 billion Teacher Retirement System of Texas, is looking to build his A-team. Executives at the country’s seventh largest...

 

Forget biofuels - burn oil and
plant forests instead
NewScientist.com news service August 16, 2007
*************************
Burning oil and planting forests to
compensate is more environmentally
friendly than burning biofuel. So
say scientists who have calculated
the difference in net emissions
between using land to produce
biofuel and the alternative: fueling
cars with gasoline and replanting
forests on the land instead. The
reason is that producing biofuel is...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7146&m=29780

 

HONG KONG (HedgeWorld.com)—Stresses in the U.S. credit market are unlikely to be resolved any time soon, according to a Merrill Lynch report released Thursday [Aug. ......

 

NEW YORK (Reuters)—A hedge fund manager whose fund ran into rough weather last month has put the firm's corporate helicopter on the sales block, the New York Post reported on Friday [Aug. 17], citing a marketing brochure. ......

 

Friday , 17 Aug 2007
Uranium stocks have plummeted by 36% to 72% in the past few months, far more than other resources sub-sectors.

 

Edwards' hedge fund soaks hurricane victims
Sat, 18 Aug 2007, 11:02
New York Post
Embarrassed presidential hopeful John Edwards promised yesterday to take MM of dollars of his own fortune out of a hedge fund tied to subprime lenders who foreclosed on victims of Hurricane Katrina. The populist candidate - who has denounced such lenders - invested USD16 MM of his USD30 MM in assets in Fortress Investment Group. The Wall Street Journal reported that 34 New Orleans homeowners struggling to overcome Katrina's aftermath faced foreclosure suits from subprime-lending units of Fortress.

 

Hedge fund" - Quant fund chaos

 

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Yield Curve Corner

 

The Fed's Job
Wall Street Journal - USA
Similarly, even very easy money today can't put off the day of reckoning for subprime mortgage holders who bought homes with no money down and thought ...
See all stories on this topic

 

How a Panicky Day
Wall Street Journal - USA
On Friday morning, following a conference call the previous evening convened by Chairman Ben Bernanke, the Fed blinked. Just 10 days after declaring that ..

 

 

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Natural Disaster Corner

Climate Prediction  http://www.nws.noaa.gov/predictions.php

World Meterological Organization http://severe.worldweather.org/

Tornadoes: http://www.disastercenter.com/tornado.htm

Great Sat Pictures of events: http://www.osei.noaa.gov/Events/Current/TRCdean232_G12.jpg

More Dean http://www.osei.noaa.gov/Events/Current/TRCdean229_G12.jpg

Hurricane Dean batters Jamaica
August 20, 2007 05:49 AM ET
KINGSTON (Reuters) - Hurricane Dean buffeted Jamaica's southern
coast, flooding the capital and littering it with broken trees
and roofs after killing nine people as it tore through the Caribbean
on Monday toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
http://links.reuters.com/r/GPOMR/HN3Y0/KZXSC/Y8BWD/2MLVD/GX/t?a1=nl_usmorningdigest

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Iranian Situation

 

Iran wants IAEA to highlight atomic cooperation
Reuters via Yahoo! News Mon, 20 Aug 2007 11:41 AM PDT
Iran expects the U.N. nuclear watchdog to highlight Tehran's cooperation in its next report on Iran's atomic program, which could determine whether it faces more U.N. sanctions, an Iranian official said on Monday.

Khomeini wanted to drop 'Death to America': Iran ex-president
AFP via Yahoo! News Mon, 20 Aug 2007 6:14 AM PDT
Iran's ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has aroused controversy after saying in a new book that revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini favoured dropping the mantra of "Death to America."

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief hits back at US plan to list his force as terrorists

15 Aug.: The RG commander Yahya Rahim Safavi said Wednesday that Iran’s 2,000-km range missiles (capable of reaching Israel) could now be remote controlled.  DEBKAfile’s military sources say this is a reference to Shahab-3 missiles kept in hiding places, possibly outside Iran, which can be operated at a distance from Tehran. Safavi also said his RG ground forces had missiles that could penetrate the armor plating fitted to Israel's Merkava and US Abrams tanks. More...

Geopolitical Diary: Blacklisting the IRGC
http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=294091

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Opalesque’s Corner

- Sentinel files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, firms sue to stop asset sale but may be too late, File: Sentinel Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Sentinel sales barred: Judge blocks transfer of clients` assets to Citadel, List of Sentinel&#39;s creditors, Two battered Lake Shore funds among Sentinel creditors, Penson GHCO sues Sentinel and Citadel on asset sale, Clearer Penson says Sentinel sold assets to Citadel without notice,  Sentinel sued over fund freeze
- Subprime infects $300bln of money market funds, hikes risk
- How risk management systems create risk: Investors run similar portfolios monitored by same risk system + data = herding
- Sachsen LB: 2nd German bank to be bailed out
- Bear Stearns, Lehman hit as hedge funds shift assets to  prime brokers with bigger balance sheets and better credit ratings, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Citi main beneficiaries, Bear Stearns to continue European expansion, ` prime brokerage business is strong`
- Jim Melcher`s Balestra fund: One who heard credit time-bomb tick,  Campbell, John Henry get losses as subprime devours carry trade, Top UK managed futures funds hit by market volatility,  AQR quant fund reverses some losses, flat YTD
- Barney Frank:  All mortgage originators must be subject to reasonable regulation substantively similar to  depository institutions
- BNP Paribas plans to reopen shortly three investment funds that it froze recently
- Opalesque Exclusive:  Hedge fund Rising Stars revisited - Structured credit hedge fund with origination structuring capability returns nearly 24% YTD, manager comments on the fragile relationship between prime brokers and hedge funds
- More U.S. hedge funds likely to crumble, attrition rate could double to 16%,  Deutsche Bank alters tack at in-house desk after EUR 100m loss
- S&P backs funds of hedge funds
- Consultants to UK pensions: Don`t panic over credit crunch, even if market fall pushes them from surplus into GBP26bln deficit, San Diego pension stands by AQR and DE Shaw investments
- Texas Teachers to put 29% in alternatives, to hire 11 senior investment staff, New Mexico Educational mulling portable alpha
- Goldman`s `goldfinger` Mark McGoldrick leaves to set up hedge fund
- Background article:  JPMorgan Private Bank puts $1bln/month into hedge funds,  Highbridge intelligence and technology applied `to every one of our portfolios`
- White Paper says prospects for distressed debt and special situations `even better now`,  Private equity fundraising frenzy continues
- Nordic veterans`s Blue White Alternative Investments attracts top academics Naik, Fung, Hsieh for its alternative beta product, KLM pension fund considers hedge fund replication strategies
- SAC to reopen multi-strategy fund, Andor veterans to launch Asian equities fund
- Goldman: Commodities slump will be `short-lived`, pull back is buying opportunity, Corn, sugar lure Goldman, Faber as subprime hurts metals, oil
- UK`s luxury home prices climb at record monthly rate of 3.9%, `Hang on, here`s good art that`s only a 10th as expensive`: What collectors, who can`t afford Indian or Chinese arts any more, are buying
- Thomas H. Lee Partners files lawsuit against Grant Thornton for role in Refco fraud, US authorities offer Li deal on Dow Jones share trading case
- Proposed US tax bill likely to affect FoF managers on `look-through` basis
- Dubai aims to combat hostility to $4bln OMX bid with place on board,  Swedish regulator steps up probe of Borse Dubai`s acquisition of OMX stakes, Dubai`s OMX bid could be backed by hedge funds and institutions, NASDAQ urges OMX shareholders to support `superior` NASDAQ offer
- Think tank: EU emissions trading scheme an embarrassing failure,  more permits to pollute have been printed than there is pollution: action should focus on setting tough, enforceable national reduction targets
- Star managers to head RAB Capital retail funds
- Executives at Man Group continue buying own shares
- Analysis: Market routs - Japan bears the brunt - but why? Obon, foreign selling bring market down
- Japanese association considers radical asset allocation change
- Tokyo Hedge Funds Club to hold Wine and Networking Evening Sept. 27th
- Eclectic signs up to Hatfield Liptak
- Macquarie to cut regulation with new holding company
- Activist News: Two UK hedge funds sue to block Mittal bid, Hedge fund bids for Yukos foreign assets
- News Briefs: `Recession-proof` Hampton summer party barely affected by market routs, Shorting Cramer: Barrons says stockpicks largely underperform with 12% in 2 years, Edwards says to drop his Investments in subprime lenders but still keep $16m in Fortress, China defends Blackstone investment: `No better company for PE`
- ...And finally: Elvis discovered in Manila, slightly overweight (Photo!)
- Logon: http://www.opalesque.com/main.php?act=archive

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Misc. Items of Interest

 

Memories can be erased, scientists
find
Press Esc Aug. 17, 2007
*************************
Weizmann Institute neuroscientists
have discovered that long-term
memories are not etched in a "clay
tablet"-like stable form as once
thought. The process is much more
dynamic, involving a miniature
molecular machine that must run
constantly to keep memories going,
and jamming this machine briefly can
erase long-term...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7158&m=29780

 

Artificial life likely in 3 to 10
years
AP August 20, 2007
*************************
Around the world, a handful of
scientists are trying to create life
from scratch and they're getting
closer. Experts expect an
announcement within three to 10
years from someone in the now
little-known field of "wet
artificial life." Jack Szostak at
Harvard Medical School, predicts
that within the next six months,
scientists will report...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7152&m=29780

 

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Funnies, Facts, Quotes, etc….

 

faction FAK-shuhn, noun:

1. A usually contentious or self-seeking group within a larger group, party, government, etc.
2. Party strife and intrigue; internal dissension.

 

1968:  The Warsaw Pact nations (except Romania and Albania), led by the Soviet Union, invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end to the Prague Spring.

1960:  Senegal seceded from the Mali Federation, declaring its full independence.

1940:  Leon Trotsky was assassinated by a Stalinist agent in Mexico.

1914:  The German army captured Brussels during the initial German invasion of World War I.

1889:  Labour activists closed the entire Port of London in the London Dock Strike.

1865:  Austria and Prussia signed the Convention of Gastein, an agreement that temporarily postponed the final struggle between them for hegemony over Germany.

1833:  Benjamin Harrison, a moderate Republican who became the 23rd president of the United States (1889–93) despite losing the popular vote by more than 95,000 to Democrat Grover Cleveland, was born in North Bend, Ohio.

1794:  U.S. General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated the Northwest Indian Confederation in the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

1741:  Danish explorer Vitus Bering, who was working for Russia, encountered Alaska.

1619:  It is thought that slaves were first brought to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia.

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Conference, Courses, Books, Papers

 

Great Research Sites:

 

Merrill Lynch research Link to full report including important disclosures see example

 

John Mauldin’s Weekly Analysis

 

James Altucher’s Website:

 

Other useful sites:

 

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Index Corner

 

The CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index www.hedgeindex.com.

The Cogent Dynamic Averages http://www.cogenthedge.com/home/inv_strategy.asphttp://www.cogenthedge.com/home/inv_strategy.asp

The Dow Jones Indices: http://www.djhedgefundindexes.com/index.cfm?event=viewPremiumContent (free registration)

HFRX Indices https://www.hedgefundresearch.com/hfrx_reg/index.php?fuse=login&1170880431

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Regulatory Info

 

 

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Disclaimer

 

The information contained in this document does not constitute an offer or solicitation to sell any security or other type of vehicles to or by anyone in any jurisdictions, nor should it be regarded as a contractual document. Under no circumstances should the information provided on this document be considered as financial advice, or as a sufficient basis on which to make investment decisions. The information contained herein has been gathered by Investor DNA, LLC from sources deemed reliable as of the date of publication, but no warranty of accuracy or completeness is given. Investor DNA, LLC is not responsible for and provides no guarantee with respect to any of the information provided herein or through the use of any hypertext link. Past results are no indication of future performance. All information in this newsletter is for educational and informational purposes and does not constitute investment, legal, tax or accounting advice. All materials are the property of the respective publishers, as referenced by header and appropriate hypertext links.