Main News

 

Hedge funds were prepared for credit crisis
Robert Discolo, head of the hedge fund strategies group at AIG Investments, welcomed the downturn caused by the summer's credit crisis.
http://mail2.efnmail.co.uk/r/318269/MTk4MTI1OjE1Mjg1/

 

Bear Stearns lied to us, fund says
InvestorDaily.com - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
By Charlie Corbett A fund of hedge funds says US bank Bear Stearns duped them about their true sub-prime risk. Investment bank Bear Stearns grossly misled ...
See all stories on this topic

 

ECONOMIC BEAT
Why Recession Is RemoteA trio of indicators shows slim chance of recession.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB119162712712050779.html?mod=djemWR

Opportunistic managers pick over the wreckage
The credit crisis offers the chance to buy cheap assets, writes William Hutchings
http://mail2.efnmail.co.uk/r/318326/MTk4MTI1OjE1Mjg1/

 

Woods leaves State Street for Man Group
Chris Woods, investment chief of State Street Global Advisors' hedge fund arm, has left to join Man Group, a UK-listed hedge fund group.
http://mail2.efnmail.co.uk/r/318331/MTk4MTI1OjE1Mjg1/

 

Goldman Record Income Shows New Wall Street in Market Shakeout
Bloomberg - USA
An ABX index tied to 20 subprime mortgage bonds rated BBB- slumped 46 percent in the third quarter. The index has declined about 70 percent this year, ...
See all stories on this topic

Hedge-fund managers may cherry-pick flattering prices when valuing infrequently traded securities to boost performance, new research shows. Ellington is temporarily halting withdrawals from two funds.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,heard_on_the_street,00.html?mod=djemheard

 

WaMu Comes Clean
Forbes - NY,USA
No news, these days, is bad news for companies tainted by the subprime mortgage crisis. Washington Mutual fessed up on Friday, announcing its third-quarter ...
See all stories on this topic

 

Goldman fund buys 10 pct stake in Winton: report
Reuters via Yahoo! News Sun, 07 Oct 2007 5:16 PM PDT
A fund set up by investment bank Goldman Sachs has bought a 10 percent stake in Winton Capital Management, a London-based hedge fund that manages $10 billion, the Financial Times reported on its Web site on Sunday

 

Goldman Sachs Plans Vehicle To Buy Stakes in Hedge Funds
Source: The Wall Street Journal Online
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. wants to raise more than $500 million for a private-equity fund that will buy stakes in hedge funds, a person familiar with the matter said. More... <http://www.hedgefund-index.com/newstoday.asp>

 

JPMorgan and BofA poised for total $3bn writedown -- [at FT.com]
By David Wighton in New York FT.com
10/7/2007 4:30:19 PM

 

 

 

 

Top 10 forecasts for 2008 and
beyond
KurzweilAI.net Oct. 8, 2007
*************************
The earth is on the verge of a
significant extinction event--a
biodiversity collapse; the world
will have a billion millionaires by
2025; water will be in the
twenty-first century what oil was in
the twentieth century; and the
threat of another cold war with
China, Russia, or both could replace
terrorism as the chief
foreign-policy concern of the...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7342&m=29780

 

Is a Hedge Fund Collapse On The Way?
Financial Times - Monday October 08, 07:58 BST

 

BGI head seeks price review for derivatives
The financial services industry needs a new model for pricing over-the-counter derivatives, according to Barclays Global Investors' head of derivatives control.
http://mail2.efnmail.co.uk/r/318291/MTk4MTI1OjE1Mjg1/

 

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Yield Curve Corner

 

GREENSPAN 50/50 ON RECESSION
 Reuters
WASHINGTON - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday that the rate of U.S. economic growth was slowing, but the odds of a recession are less than 50/50.  Greenspan also said in an interview on CNN&#39;s "Late Edition with Wolf...
full story: http://www.nypost.com/seven/10082007/business/greenspan_50_50_on_recession.htm

 

Greenspan's musings hamper Bernanke
Financial News Online US - London,UK
This is Ben Bernanke's nightmare. As the Fed chairman faces his first big economic crisis, he is hampered by the remarks of his predecessor and struggles ...
See all stories on this topic

 

Bernanke Reached Out for Advice
The Associated Press -
8, but Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke may have been feeling the heat when he talked by phone with Citigroup's Robert Rubin and consulted with a host ...
See all stories on this topic

 

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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:

 

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Iranian Situation

 

Geopolitical Diary: Talk of More U.S.-Iranian Talks
http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=296414

 

Israeli president brands Iran 'centre of global terror'
AFP via Yahoo! News Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:04 PM PDT
Israeli President Shimon Peres launched a blistering attack on arch-foe Iran on Monday, calling the Islamic republic "the centre of global terror" aiming to dupe the world on its nuclear programme.

 

Iran rejects nuclear program talks
Reuters via Yahoo! News Mon, 08 Oct 2007 1:25 AM PDT
Negotiations over Iran's nuclear enrichment activities would be meaningless because the country has a legal right to pursue the technology, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on Sunday.

 

IRAN:  About 100 students staged a rare demonstration against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while he gave a speech at Tehran University, The Associated Press reported. The students shouted "Death to the dictator," prompting scuffles with hard-line students who were chanting "Thank you, president." Police looked on from outside the university gates, according to the report.

 

Petraeus Outs an Iranian
Challenges Envoy in Iraq Capital
BY ELI LAKE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
WASHINGTON — General David Petraeus's decision to out the Iranian ambassador to Iraq as a member of the Quds Force coincides with a new tribal outreach campaign aimed at prying Iraqi Shiites in the south from the grip of Iran's powerful security...

 

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Opalesque’s Corner

 

- Goldman fund buys 10% stake in Winton,  Goldman Sachs sets up private equity fund to buy stakes in London hedge funds
- Swiss Re buys stake in Brevan
- Julius Baer acquires  Monaco-based Capital Invest SAM to form local unit
- Investors buy into Australian hedge fund distribution firm
- Citigroup retains only four of 20 fund managers that ran money at Tribeca
- Lansdowne flagship rebounds with best results in September, makes $200m from Northern short, Wall Street blue chip hedge funds bounce back
- BlueCrest generates a GBP130m profit,  Peloton income soars to GBP21m
- Victor Niederhoffer forced to close two of his funds, including flagship Matador, New Yorker Portrait:  The Blow-Up Artist: Can Victor Niederhoffer survive another market crisis?
- Ellington suspends withdrawals in two funds
- Opalesque Exclusive: Exploring the FoHFs universe (part 1) - the Swiss winners
- IMF head warns on impact of credit crisis, says governments worldwide to make substantial budget changes, Rato speaks his mind on dollar: `Undervalued`, Credit squeeze costs banks $18bn, List of credit crisis casualties
- Harvard: why CDOs are economic catastophe bonds, Signs of recovery in battered ABS market, Bearish credit investors reject complex CPDO structures, Lessons to be learnt from the perfect storm: Don`t be fooled by wishful `all is well again`,  Oaktree looks to Europe as assets surge to over $50bln
- Cogo Wolf FoF says investors will withdraw $500bn in 2008, `very sharp Darwinian process` to hit hedge funds, black box quant fund to find `moment of truth`, New paper claims humans required to manage hedge funds
- Geneva Partners unveils $50m activist FoF,  New Star launched real estate hedge fund,  Mohican celebrates five years as  single strat convert arb fund
- State Street`s Chris Woods to join Man Group, Former Bridgewell chief resurfaces at hedge fund,  Alan Kosan to head Rogerscasey  Non-Traditional Research Group
- Commodities bull story relies heavily on guesswork, Hedge funds eye minor metals,  Best opportunities now to be found in agricultural commodities? Galahad abandons mining
- Overseas listed property funds (OPFs) outperform their REIT peers
- US municipal bond carry game stages slow come back
- Resurgent carry trade
- London art show hit be credit crunch,  `but even if there is a 50% correction, it would only be going back to the state of affairs 12 months ago`,  Frieze fair vies with $375m auctions, cocktail parties, Background: How art got monetized, and the nouveau riches changed the game, London City bonus to fall 16%, banks to shed thousands of jobs
- Peer-to-peer lending catching on with investors, borrowers
- Bear Stearns lied to us, FoF says, sub-prime exposure underplayed, ponders legal action, Judge appoints receiver to operate Lake Shore fund,  Lake Shore and lawyer William Nissen may have obsctructed proceedings, Portus`s Manor will return to Canada, his lawyer says,  KPMG, law firms collect $16m in Portus fees, Basis liquidators force  five investment banks to hand over all documents from fund`s dying days
- Montreal Exchange seeks approval for carbon futures trading, Property derivatives may debut in Singapore next year
- Citigroup poised to throw Northern Rock GBP10bn lifeline
- Gibraltar as a senter for fund management and administration: Munich event
- Britain`s plans to become first western government to issue Islamic bonds face legal issues, set back after Ball departure,  New quarterly publication launched by Qatar Financial Centre Authority,  Asia to create eco-friendly sharia fund
- Emerging markets set to account for a third of world markets by 2017
- Private equity rush continues in India: $20bln investments per year,  Global hedge funds enter Indian real estate market
- Asia verges on major asset inflation, says CLSA
- Assets managed by hedge funds in Singapore jump 15% to $16.5bln, now over 100 funds
- Activist News: Critics of HSBC win powerful new allies (CalPERS, CalSTRS), Barclays withdraws $84B ABN Amro offer, ABN says to pay Barclays EUR200m break fee, RBS team closes in on ABN, $101 billion RBS deal for ABN Amro
- News Briefs:  Brown scraps early poll, Change in peg helps Kuwait curb inflation,  Dollar may lose charm for OPEC,  Kazakhstan`s central banks rebuff hedge funds
- ...And finally:  Italy to offer `big babies` tax break to rescue economy as over third of Italian men over 30 live with parents
- Logon: http://www.opalesque.com/main.php?act=archive

 

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Misc. Items of Interest

 

Lurid Affairs
A World Of Sex Scandals
10.06.07, 6:00 AM ET - Brian Wingfield
U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's bathroom footsie is nothing compared with some of this stuff.

 

US scientist heralds 'artificial
life' breakthrough (Update)
AFP Oct. 6, 2007
*************************
The Guardian reported Saturday that
Craig Venter said he is set to
annouunce the creation of a
synthetic chromosome -- the first
ever artificial life form -- within
weeks, possibly as early as Monday.
But Venter spokeswoman Heather
Kowalski declined to confirm any
breakthrough: "We have not achieved
what some have speculated we have in...
http://www.kurzweilai.net/email/newsRedirect.html?newsID=7344&m=29780

 

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Funnies, Facts, Quotes, etc….

 

GREENSPAN 50/50 ON RECESSION
 Reuters

WASHINGTON - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said yesterday that the rate of U.S. economic growth was slowing, but the odds of a recession are less than 50/50.  Greenspan also said in an interview on CNN&#39;s "Late Edition with Wolf...

full story: http://www.nypost.com/seven/10082007/business/greenspan_50_50_on_recession.htm

 

2001:  In Italy's worst civilian air disaster in nearly 30 years, a Cessna took a wrong turn on a taxiway at Linate Airport in Milan and crashed into an SAS airliner about to take off, which exploded, killing 118 people, including 4 airport workers.

1970:  Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1967:  A prominent communist figure in the Cuban Revolution and a South American guerrilla leader, Che Guevara was captured and later shot to death by a Bolivian army.

1957:  An accident at the Windscale nuclear facility in northwestern England caused a fire that burned for 16 hours and left 10 tons of radioactive fuel melted in the reactor core.

1918:  Corporal Alvin Cullum York single-handedly captured 132 Germans and killed another 25 during the Meuse-Argonne offensive of World War I.

1871:  The city of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, burned to the ground in hours, killing 1,152 people. At the same time, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed 4 square miles (10 square km) of Chicago, killing 250 and leaving 90,000 homeless.

1604:  Jan Brunowski, Johannes Kepler's assistant, was the first to observe Kepler's nova.

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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.