Main News

 

Is It Really Different This Time? Bond bull Robert Kessler says, yes -- it's worse, which points to new low yields.
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB121067640609788107.html?mod=djemBF

 

Research Says Funds of Funds More Than 'Multi-Manager Funds with Extra Fees' by Christopher Holt

 

Still No Evidence of Silver Market Manipulation, Says CFTC
By: Jacob Bunge, Financial Correspondent
Posted: 05/14/2008 3:51:24 PM ET
http://www.hedgeworld.com/news/read_news.cgi?section=mfad&story=mfad1252.html

 

Freddie Mac first-quarter net loss widens
May 14, 2008 07:41 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Freddie Mac, the second-biggest provider
of funding for U.S. residential mortgages, on Wednesday said
its first-quarter loss widened slightly as its credit losses
deepened.
http://links.reuters.com/r/NG7YL/7IRXF/QXQPM/Q15LZ/OMC7L/YT/t

 

As the prices of energy and other commodities soar to historic highs, companies around the world are making the hedging of their energy commodities exposures a top strategic priority. This development would seem to be a boon for investment banks and other dealers looking to build or expand their franchises in OTC commodity derivatives. A study suggest that although the ongoing commodities boom is creating new opportunities for dealers across the board, the firms benefiting most are the handful of dealers that have historically dominated the market.

Full Story...

 

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York yesterday released Intraday Liquidity Management: A Tale of Games Banks Play—a new forthcoming article in the Bank’s Economic Policy Review series.

Full Story...

 

Burdened by the Weight of Inflation
Nearly seven in 10 Americans are worried about maintaining their standard of living, as concern has spiked higher in just the past five months, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Soaring consumer prices are a major challenge, with many people struggling under the weight of the risi...
(By Jon Cohen and Steven Mufson, The Washington Post)

 

Forex Settlement Risks Remain, Say Central Bankers
By: Martin de Sa'Pinto, Senior Financial Correspondent
Posted: 05/14/2008 12:31:55 PM ET
http://www.hedgeworld.com/news/read_news.cgi?section=dail&story=dail14978.html

 

Banks Start New ABX to Bet on Subprime Mortgage Debt (Update1) ... The ABX contracts trading for the first time today are tied to subprime bonds that are a ...
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGVjH.wpGD4M&refer=home - 7 hours ago

 

Help Wanted: Hedge Fund Managers
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Greg Zuckerman has this report on an outfit that recruits and raises capital for fledgling hedge-fund managers. More... <http://www.hedgefund-index.com/newstoday.asp>

 

Harvard: A Tax-Free Hedge Fund?
Source: The New York Times
A recent report in The Wall Street Journal that Massachusetts legislators are studying a plan to levy a 2.5 percent annual tax on the portion of college endowments that exceed $1 billion, had The American Scene pulling out its calculator and coming up with this conclusion: All Harvard University is, in fact, a just a tax-exempt hedge fund. More... <http://www.hedgefund-index.com/newstoday.asp>

 

Legislators, Columnists Demonize Speculation
By: Christopher Faille, Senior Financial Correspondent
Posted: 05/14/2008 12:10:21 PM ET
http://www.hedgeworld.com/news/read_news.cgi?section=edsk&story=edsk287.html

 

Citi's Bad Bet
Forbes Wed, 14 May 2008 3:10 PM PDT
Why are investors bailing out of Old Lane, the $4.5 billion hedge fund that brought Vikram Pandit to Citigroup?

 

JPMorgan faces $9bn charge for cleaning up Bear balance sheet
JPMorgan is to take a charge of about $9bn (?5.8bn), half as much again as its estimate, to clean up Bear Stearns' balance sheet and pay for redundancies and litigation arising from its cut-price takeover of the stricken investment bank.  (Financial Times)
http://mail2.efnmail.co.uk/r/363282/MTk4MTI1OjE3Mjk1/

 

A Wish List for Fixing Wall Street
NYTimes.com via Yahoo! Finance Tue, 13 May 2008 8:37 PM PDT
For Kenneth C. Griffin, who runs one of the biggest and most successful hedge fund firms, the entire banking industry needs to overhaul its thinking, and perhaps accept greater regulation.

 

Russian Capitalism: After the Soviets, After Yukos
By: Christopher Faille, Senior Financial Correspondent
Posted: 05/14/2008 3:18:15 PM ET
http://www.hedgeworld.com/news/premium/read_news.cgi?section=edsk&story=edsk289.html

 

Mercer Sees Spike In Alt Searches
Alternatives manager searches were up 20% globally in 2007 compared to 2006.Read more

 

Guess who the Chinese worship as a God? The Buffett (Honest to God!)
Wall Street Journal Interactive - Wednesday May 14, 07:25 BST

_________________________________________________________________________

Yield Curve Corner

 

Bernanke cautions credit crisis isn't over
The credit crisis is not over and it "is likely to take some time" before financial markets return to normal, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said. His comments Tuesday led stocks to rise, bonds to sell off sharply, and rate future markets to start pricing in prospects for higher interest rates by year-end. His comments highlighted the Fed's efforts to keep the U.S. economy out of a deep slump. Meanwhile, speeches by other Fed officials noted the fear that rising energy prices would stoke inflation. Reuters (14 May.)

 

Bernanke Talks Big Picture
Forbes - NY,USA
Ben Bernanke sure can talk, but others seem to think its time to act -- possibly including a reversal of the Federal Reserve's easy-money policy of the past ...
See all stories on this topic

_________________________________________________________________________

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/DSTafrica135_MT.jpg

 

Rescuers reach epicenter of China quake

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080514/ap_on_re_as/china_earthquake

 

China quake disrupts natural gas production
China's two largest oil companies said the killer earthquake in Sichuan province forced them to shut some gas wells and an oil refinery in the city of Nanchong. PetroChina Co. has cut daily gas output from Sichuan by about 14%. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. said aftershocks and blocked transportation links led it to keep gas wells closed. Natural gas demand could drop until business resumes in the province, which uses about 19% of China's supply, said Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. analyst Cheng Khoo in Hong Kong. Bloomberg (14 May.)

 

China quake 'worse than expected' *
Reports from the epicentre of China's earthquake suggest the number of dead could be higher than feared.
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7399897.stm

 

CHINA : Temblor - Test of Openness
Inter Press Service (subscription) - Rome,Italy
Incomplete records state 780 people perished at the time. China’s biggest natural calamity occurred in the middle of the country’s political isolation ...

_________________________________________________________________________

Iranian Situation and Other Man Made Disasters

 

U.S. says Iran security pledge not on table
Reuters via Yahoo! News Wed, 14 May 2008 12:16 PM PDT
The United States said on Wednesday six world powers had no plans to offer Iran security guarantees to encourage it to suspend nuclear activity, hours after Russia floated the idea.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

Opalesque’s Corner

 

- Editor's Note
- Niche Investing: Opalesque Exclusive:  Aurarian Capital carving out a niche in the intellectual property arena
- Fund launches: Kotak Mahindra launches first multi strategy equity fund, the Kotak India Dynamic Fund in June 2008 with $100m, Morgan Creek Capital unveils credit FoF, Former Shooter employees seek $200m for currency fund
- Absolute Capital Update: Absolute Capital soars on demerger plan
- Indices: Eurekahedge: Hedge Funds up 1.1% in April, Barclay CTA Index down 0.27% in April, 6.66% YTD
- New Ventures: Update: Lombard Odier sets up single-strategy HF venture, views hedge funds as central to wealth operations
- Sponsors: Magnum sponsors New Yield Curve Opportunity Fund
- Comment: CFA says quant, fundamental styles are tough mix, BH Macro Fund`s chairman: Hedge funds can play `hero` role in market restoration
- Trends: Buyers return to property derivatives to take advantage of low prices, optimism in UK market
- Credit Crunch Update: Mizuho may take $5bln hit on its foray into the U.S. mortgage arena, Update: Credit Agricole to launch EUR7bln ($10.8bln) capital increase, UK`s Alliance & Leicester books GBP192m writedowns but keeps dividend, Bernanke says Fed to boost loans to banks as needed, Analyst: Citi is beyond repair
- People: Structured Portfolio Management hires Charles Smart as SVP of trading and portfolio management, CME Group appoints Kevin Kometer as managing director and CIO, James R. Krause to retire, De Souza joins Mitsubishi UFJ Securities as European head
- Tax Update: Charles Rangel tries to tax hedge pay - again, Congress to look into new limits on hedge-fund managers` ability to defer taxes on their compensation by holding it offshore
- Regulatory: MFA's Richard Baker sees `good progress` on hedge fund rules (video), NY watchdog urges derivative controls, Wachovia discloses Fed and State inquiries into auction-rate securities
- Commodities: Opalesque Exclusive: Tiberius` commodity futures fund returns 4.38% in April, 15.69% YTD, managers to maintain a defensive posture, Greenwich Associates: As global commodities boom, companies turn to top derivatives dealers for help in hedging, Comment: Pension funds `diversify' into commodity bubble, IMF says inflation risks have emerged, rising energy and commodity prices central to new concerns
- Other Voices: A speculative attack &#8211; on blaming commodity speculators
- Environmental Trading: Global carbon market is booming as Wall Street is preparing for cap-and-trade legislation that could enlarge market
- Exchanges: NYSE Euronext to list first blank check vehicle, Nymex members said to try stopping CME deal
- Europe: London`s Millennium FoHFs reaches 3-year anniversary in positive territory for 2008, +1.8% in April, Dexia A.M.`s AUM fall by 6.9% in Q1 due to tough markets, withdrawals, Finland`s 1st pillar pension fund to increase alternatives: real estate and commodities
- Asia: Asian stocks rebound doomed by earnings, Aberdeen, Artradis say
- Activist News: Highfields wins from Clear Channel settlement, TCI asks J-Power auditor to consider lawsuit, Icahn considers running Yahoo proxy campaign
- News Briefs: Dow Jones launches new database tracking all buyout and growth transactions, investment firms and companies in the U.S. & Europe, Infrastructure funds raise nearly $10bln, Citi Infrastructure Investors announces partnership with Vancouver Airport Authority, Central bankers call for more action to reduce foreign exchange settlement risk, Moody's sticks to alphabet-based ratings scale, Former AIG chief Maurice Greenberg urges insurer to delay annual meeting, says it is in crisis,  BNP and Fridson to start investment management firm to bank on corporate credit opportunities,  Update: Ex-UBS employee charged over US tax fraud
- And Finally. X-Files uncovered - UK Ministry of Defense releases secret reports of green aliens and UFOs visits
- Logon: http://www.opalesque.com/index.php?act=archive

_________________________________________________________________________

Misc. Items of Interest

 

How Blu-ray Lost, Then Won, And May Lose Again | by Kevin Ohannessian
Blu-ray may have defeated HD-DVD, but now it stands a
chance of becoming too overpriced for an overburdened
economy to adopt. Exactly how did Blu-Ray get to this 
position, and what's happened since the format's
victory that could keep it from taking full advantage?
http://trax.fastcompany.com/k/w/mailman/fasttake/20080514/blueray_war

 

_____________________________________________________________________

Funnies, Facts, Quotes, etc….

_________________________________________________________________________

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:

 

_________________________________________________________________________

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

_________________________________________________________________________

Regulatory Info

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________

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.