Peter Schiff: Why Warren Buffett Is Wrong About Gold (Investment News)
The gold doomsayers have found their champion in the media’s favorite financial adviser and one of the world’s richest men. Warren Buffett, the man dubbed the “Oracle of Omaha,” has repeatedly and publicly denied that gold is an investment, and called gold buyers “speculators” and people “who fear almost all other assets.” In fact, Buffett claims that gold’s rise has the same characteristics as the housing and dot-com bubbles, and it is only a matter of time before it reverses course. He doesn’t mean that the price will decline because of austerity measures and a free-market interest rate, mind you. He just asserts that because he’s deemed it a bubble, it will inevitably burst.
Rogers Bullish On Currency, Bearish On 2013 (NASDAQ)
With Greece barely averting default, the Bank of Japan weakening the yen, and central bankers in the United States and Europe continuing stimulative measures, Jim Rogers is the last investor we would expect to still be long on currencies. In a recent CNBC interview, though, the legendary financier disclosed that he is long on the Chinese Renminbi, the U.S. dollar and the euro.
Gold Far From Bubble Phase: Marc Faber (Citizen Economists)
With more than 40 years as an economist to his credit and claiming gold as the “biggest position in my life,” Gloom Boom & Doom Report Publisher Marc Faber assures us that gold is nowhere near a bubble phase, but cautions that corrections of 40% are not unusual in a bull market. At the end of March, Faber will share his secrets for surviving corrections at the World MoneyShow in Vancouver. In advance of that appearance, he sat down with The Gold Report for this exclusive interview where he discusses his bias for portfolio diversification in terms of geographies as well as asset classes.
Sears Survival Seen in Spinoff as Cash Drops: Retail (Bloomberg)
For the past two years, Sears Holdings Corp. (SHLD) Chairman Eddie Lampert has argued in his shareholder letters that the company’s future is tied partly to smaller-format stores that sell home goods and hardware. So when Sears announced it was spinning off a piece of the so-called growth part of its portfolio on Feb. 23, it wasn’t clear whether Lampert, who with his hedge fund owns 60 percent of Sears, was trying yet another strategy to turn around the fortunes of the largest U.S. department store chain or did he have another goal?
Paulson’s Advantage Plus Declines in February (Bloomberg)
John Paulson lost 1.5 percent in February in one of his largest hedge funds, according to an investor update, paring this year’s gain and setting back efforts by the New York-based manager to recoup record losses in 2011. Paulson’s Advantage Plus Fund, which seeks to profit from corporate events such as takeovers and bankruptcies and uses leverage to amplify returns, gained 3.5 percent in the first two months of 2012, according to the update, a copy of which was obtained yesterday by Bloomberg News.
SEC’s Gallagher Calls for Re-Proposing Volcker Trading Ban (Bloomberg)
U.S. regulators should “go back to the drawing board” and make extensive revisions to their proposed ban on banks’ proprietary trading, Securities and Exchange Commission member Daniel Gallagher said in a speech.
Inmarsat Can’t Predict Payments From LightSquared Following Discussions (Bloomberg)
Inmarsat Plc (ISAT), the biggest provider of satellite services to the maritime industry, said it’s in talks with customer LightSquared Inc. (SKYT) and can’t predict whether it will receive outstanding payments. While the companies are talking, “investors should take a very conservative stance on payments being received,” Chief Executive Officer Rupert Pearce said on a conference call today. LightSquared’s business model faces “significant uncertainty” because of U.S. regulatory developments, London-based Inmarsat said in a statement.
HSBC Unit Parts Company With Top Hedge Fund Manager (Reuters)
A top fund of hedge funds manager at HSBC’s alternative investments unit has left after the global banking group decided to merge its discretionary and advisory businesses. Tim Gascoigne, who was global head of portfolio management and who ran the $2.4 billion (1.5 billion pound) GH fund of hedge funds at HSBC Alternative Investments Limited, left last month, a spokeswoman for the bank said on Monday.
UPDATE 1-EFG offloads remaining stake in Marble Bar (Reuters)
EFG International has agreed to sell its remaining stake in hedge funds unit Marble Bar for 28.8 million Swiss francs ($31.6 million) to the unit’s managers, as the Swiss wealth manager continues to sell off non core businesses and focus on private banking.
Hedge Funds Still Building Assets, Despite Weak Performance (WSJ)
Hedge fund investors don’t appear to care about performance. Well, not enough to run away at least. Despite seeing some of the worst performances since 2008, the largest hedge funds in the world increased their assets by 3% last year to $1.34 trillion, according to Absolute Return’s Billion Dollar Club survey.
Texas Teacher Pension Buys Bridgewater Stake (Deal Book)
The Teacher Retirement System of Texas just went from hedge fund investor to hedge fund owner. Last month, the Texas pension took a $250 million stake in Bridgewater Associates, the giant money manager. Now, rather than plowing money into specific portfolios, it can claim a piece of the whole operation.
Alaska To Terminate Mandate (Hedge Fund Intelligence)
The $11 billion Alaska Retirement System is in the process of terminating Mariner Investment Group, confirmed chief investment officer Gary Bader. He added that there are no plans to replace the…
2 Media Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Market Watch)
There are still some insiders who cross the line and act directly on such information or trade in the grey area. Even though they do not take advantage of material non-public information, they still have an edge over ordinary investors because they know about their companies much better. In this article, we are going to discuss a few media stocks that insiders are purchasing recently.
Hong Kong Hosts Aima’s Annual Forum (HFM Week)
Aima, the hedge fund industry trade body, will hold its annual regulatory forum in Hong Kong this week, the organisation has announced. The event will feature speeches from Hong Kong’s financial secretary John Tsang and the CEO and deputy CEO of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, Ashley Alder and Alexa Lam.
Wilbur Ross: Ireland to be first in European recovery (Value Walk)
Reuters Correspondent Elizabeth Koraca sits down with billionaire investor Wilbur Ross and talks turnaround in the Miami property market,why he’s standing firm on his tanker investment and why austerity is paying off for Ireland ($EIRL)
Third Avenue Funds’ Q1 Report (Value Walk)
Third Avenue funds run by Marty Whitman just released its first quarter letter. The firm tickers for retail investors are as follows; TVFVX, TVSVX, TVIVX, TFCVX and TVRVX. Marty Whitman always provides some interesting perspectives in terms of both the macro picture and investment philosophy. Whitman discusses the approach taken by many modern analysts which focuses almost entirely on earnings and cash flows. Any earnings release is heavily weighted by Wall Street in terms of earnings per share, with far less emphasis placed on balance sheet considerations. Whitman explains that at Third Avenue the balance sheet is given more consideration. Additionally, Whitman thinks net asset value (NAV) and changes to it are important for both stocks and real estate.
Hedge Fund AM Capital Achieved Double Digit Returns In February (Opalesque)
Chicago-based hedge fund manager AM Capital Management LLC which specializes in hedge fund investment strategies for qualified institutional and individual investors, continued its winning streak in February and was up 12.78% “taking advantage of quality stocks” versus the DOW index + 2.52%, NASDAQ + 4.83%, and the S&P 500 index at + 4.05%. The fund started 2012 with a strong 21.19% gains in January after taking advantage of “deeply discounted prices in specific companies”.
Hedge Funds Cut Bullish Gas Bets Most Since June (Hedge Co. Net)
Hedge funds reduced bullish bets on natural gas by the most in eight months as forecasts for warmer-than-usual weather in the eastern US signalled a drop in heating-fuel use with supplies near a seasonal record. Money managers cut wagers on rising prices for the first time in seven weeks, reducing positions by 56 per cent in the seven days ended February 28, according to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Commitments of Traders report. It was the biggest decline since June 28.
Analysis: Thin World Markets Rally May Run Longer, Draw New Cash (Reuters)
The Billion-Dollar Club, Underperforming The S&P, Long And Short Of Hedge Funds, Stressing Over Stress Tests And More (Reuters Hedge World)
SEC Form D Filings For March 5, 2012 (Reuters Hedge World)
Deals of the Day: Big Banks Stress Over Test Results (WSJ)
HFMWeek Daily Snapshot – 6 March (HFM Week)
Daily US Opening News And Market Re-Cap: March 6 (Zero Hedge)
Frontrunning: March 6 (Zero Hedge)
Tuesday 7atSeven: Libor legalities (Abnormal Returns)
Morning Read: Sweating the Swap (Barrons)
Hot Links: School of Quant (The Reformed Broker)
Morning News: March 6, 2012 (Crossing Wall Street)
10 Tuesday AM Reads (The Big Picture)
