Archive - Jan 6, 2010 - Blog entry

While more and more hedge funds are delving into the mutual fund space, sophisticated pension fund managers, like Barclays, are scrutinizing their alpha managers.

Watching the VIX hit a 16-month low, I am beginning to believe that Uncle Ben and the other members of the FOMC have created a 1980s style interest rate trap for banks and other leveraged fixed income investors via the Fed's asset purchase program. It's all about OAD, if you know why I mean. Unfortunately, nobody on the FOMC does.

Ontario Teachers' buys AIG's Canadian mortgage business and CPPIB makes some internal shifts in management.

2009 was an incredibly interesting year both politically and financially, as both arenas are inextricably intertwined, though on the surface, the leaders from these respective industries often bicker and admonish one another for public show, while smiling and shaking hands behind closed doors. Uncovering this complex and hidden connection almost always requires much deeper digging than is ever executed by mass media financial journalists, who often seem more intent on fawning to banking interests rather than revealing the smallest speck of truth to the public.

Not pretty ...

This article addresses a recent study done by a couple of hedge fund managers regarding the performance of various asset classes during the inflationary 1970s. What performed best on an inflation adjusted basis during the 1970s? Stocks? Gold? Oil? Bonds?

Chatting about the greatest security breach in US history. Food and oil are now national security issues. And for that matter, so is our foreign borrowing.