Hedge Funds Past Their Sexual Prime
Like an aging baby boomer reaching for Viagra for the first time, the hedge fund industry must confront the fact that its best days are behind it. So says UK pensions minister Frank Field. “The House of Commons pension fund is jumping on a bandwagon whose best times are past,” Field said of the scheme’s decision to invest £8m in hedge funds. He told IPE: “The more crowded the hedge fund market becomes, the more pedestrian their returns become.” If only a little blue pill could solve the industry’s problems.
Hedge Funds Past Peak [Invesments & Pensions Europe via Albourne]
Daddy Dearest
“She’s my daughter” – slap! “She’s my wife” – slap! “She’s my daughter and my wife!” Like you, we always thought that this stuff made great movies like “Chinatown”, but in real life? Get a grip. But then along came a story about a hedgie billionaire and his long-lost love child, their hot and heavy affair and a marriage ceremony in Westminster Abbey. It reads like a Greek myth on steroids, with DNA tests on the side. We always knew that some of these guys take this Master-of-the-Universe stuff seriously, but puh-leze!
Hedge Fund Honco Tied Know with Love-Child [NY Post]
Yale endowment creams Harvard’s
The two schools, Harvard and Yale have been competing practically ever since they were founded. There is more to it than just the traditional Harvard-Yale football games; there are the two university endowments, which are followed closely by fund managers because of the schools’ differing styles and reputation for shrewd investing strategies.
Yale University, the world’s second-wealthiest university, announced that its endowment fund returned 22.9 percent in 2005-06, beating returns by wealthier rival Harvard University for a second straight year. Of course, Yale won’t reveal how they did it. Does Macy’s tell Gimbels?
Yale endowment returns 22.9 pct [Reuters]
Dr. Doom Turns Bullish on U.S. Stocks
Whoa, the financial end must be nigh: Marc “Dr. Doom” Faber has turned bullish on U.S. stocks.
“If the price of oil and other commodities declines for a while, it leads to something like a tax cut for the consumer,” Faber said, speaking at a recent Hong Kong conference.
“Whereas I am very negative in the long run, and I believe that the U.S. economic imbalances are not sustainable, for the next few months the investment community is too negative on the U.S. economy which is more likely to surprise to the upside than the downside.”
Waitaminute. For the next few months? Okay, that doesn’t really qualify as bullish. Let’s call it more like temporarily non-bearish.
Doctor Doom [Paul Kedrosky]
Hedgies Getting Horsey
Interest in the sport of polo is on the rise in England. Since 2000, the number of clubs devoted to the stuffy past-time has jumped from less than 40 to more than 60, with five or so claiming to have at least 100 members. Where’s all the interest coming from? Most of them work for the likes of UBS, JP Morgan or Citigroup,” according to one club owner. “They’re traders or they work for hedge funds.”
Making a Mint Out of Polo Ponies [BBC]
