Hedge-Fund Ads May Lure Performance Chasers (WSJ)
If performance-chasing has been a problem in mutual-fund investing, Andrew Altfest warns, just wait until hedge funds start flashing ads. Mr. Altfest, executive vice president at Altfest Personal Wealth Management in New York, is one of many financial advisers worried that a recent regulatory change allowing hedge funds to advertise will sway clients and other investors. That’s likely to make advisers’ jobs harder. “Performance chasing could be worse for investors in hedge funds than in mutual funds,” he says. “For example, in certain hedge-fund strategies, like global macro, past performance could have been driven by a few good calls which…
Fund Ties Hidden In Goldman Marketing, Tourre Jury Hears (Law360)
Marketing materials for Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)’s Abacus product made no mention of a hedge fund’s involvement in structuring it, a senior Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) director told jurors Thursday as the trial of trader Fabrice Tourre continued on allegations he helped the fund build Abacus to fail. Jonathan Egol, a Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) managing director, said he saw no mention of Paulson & Co. Inc.’s role in picking the residential mortgage backed securities that went into Abacus 2007-AC1, a synthetic collateralized debt obligation that closed in 2007. The U.S. Securities…
Hedge fund assets hit $2.4 trillion — Hedge Fund Research (PIOnline)
Hedge funds toppled another record high point when industry assets totaled $2.4 trillion as of June 30. …Aggregate hedge fund assets were up 1.2% from March 31, 7.2% from Dec. 31 and 20.3% from Dec. 31, 2011, according to Hedge Fund Research’s second-quarter 2013 asset flows report. Hedge fund industrywide assets have been climbing every year after hitting a nadir of $1.4 trillion at the end of 2008, HFR reported. Net inflows in the second quarter were $14.5 billion and $15.2 billion in the second quarter. Midyear total net inflows of $29.7 billion were higher than first-half net inflows in 2012 of $20.4 billion.
Hedge funds sitting on record amount of capital (InvestmentNews)
Roaring stock markets and rising concerns over the Federal Reserve’s five-year quantitative-easing program is playing right into the hands of the hedge fund industry, which now sits on a record $2.4 trillion. “It’s not at all surprising that as the markets move to new highs, more investors are realizing it’s time to diversify beyond long-only,” said John Sundt, president and chief executive of Altegris Investments Inc. “Right now, investors are faced with equities at all-time highs and growing fears of rising interest rates, and they’re looking for places where they can find some value and diversification.”
Morgan Stanley stock traders rebuild burned bridges (Reuters)
As Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)‘s share price went on a headlong descent during the financial crisis in 2008, then-Chief Executive John Mack personally lobbied regulators to stop short-selling temporarily. …Many, such as the famed short-seller Jim Chanos, were also big clients of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)’s prime brokerage and stock trading businesses, and expressed their displeasure by taking their money elsewhere. Over the past few years, Mack’s successor James Gorman has been trying to repair those frayed relationships, win back clients and make new ones across its equities trading franchise. Ted Pick, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)’s global head of equities and research, has been the point man on that mission.
Is the Government About to Move the Goal Posts on Steve Cohen? (BusinessWeek)
Government investigators have been scrambling through the heat wave to make decisions about whether to bring securities fraud charges against a certain billionaire hedge fund owner based in Greenwich, Conn. The assumption had been that prosecutors had five years to charge said hedge fund owner, SAC Capital founder Steven Cohen, for trades that took place in July 2008 in Elan Corporation, plc (ADR) (NYSE:ELN) and Wyeth (WYE), which form the basis of an insider trading case that was filed last November against former SAC portfolio manager Mathew Martoma, or for August 2008 trades in Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) that the government alleges were based on inside information.
