He said so over the weekend. Continue reading »
Archive for February 2011
Whitney Whips Up Wall Street As Bear In Heels (Bloomberg)
“Many of Whitney’s critics have a vested interest in tearing her down. They include competing municipal bond analysts, fund managers who run muni portfolios, financial advisers who sell the tax-exempt securities, and above all, the borrowers who depend on munis to finance their whopping deficits. To all of them she is a big-mouthed, larger-than-life nightmare…If she were demure and understated instead of a brassy hustler who markets herself on television with stunning success, fewer people might be hoping for Whitney’s fall. But she’s willing to break a sweat to boost her business and sell herself as a brand.”
Lloyd Blankein Didn’t Care To Speak With Charlie Gasparino Last Night (Twitter)
“I just made eye contact with Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO at a pre-Super Bowl party in Dallas, he saw me and walked the other way.”
Stock-Hedging Lets Bankers Skirt Efforts to Overhaul Pay (Dealbook)
In some cases, executives saved millions of dollars by using these tactics. One prominent Goldman investment banker avoided more than $7 million in losses over a four-month period. Such transactions are at the center of a debate over whether Wall Street executives should be allowed to hedge their stock holdings. The concern with hedging is that executives can easily break the ties between compensation and company performance. Employees who hedge their holdings are less concerned about a falling share price.
Risky Assets Still Lurk At Banks (WSJ)
In part due to those bad assets, the top 10 U.S.-owned banks had $13.8 billion in “unrealized losses” that have lasted at least a year in their investment portfolios as of Sept. 30, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Such losses are baked into banks’ book value, but don’t get counted against earnings as long as the banks believe the investments will later rebound. If those losses were assessed against earnings, it would have reduced the banks’ pretax income for the first nine months of 2010 by 21%, according to the Journal analysis.
Aguilera apologizes for Super Bowl fumble (ABC)
The singer has apologized for the incident, releasing a statement which reads: “I got so caught up in the moment of the song that I lost my place. I can only hope that everyone could feel my love for this country and that the true spirit of its anthem still came through.” Continue reading »
$$$ Madoff Trustee: Mets Owners Ignored Ponzi Warning Signs [WSJ]
$$$ Fed up with the tedium of monthly investor letters, Clavel started adding a little more pizazz to the communications of his African and commodity focused hedge funds this summer by publishing an “African Explorer’s Diary.” [Reuters]
$$$ January Was Not Golden For Paulson [Dealbook]
$$$ U.S. Treasury Declines to Name China Currency Manipulator Continue reading »
January performance for RIFF is in. A slight disappointment but fear not- CEO emeritus Uncle Jim and his magic cigs will make it back. Continue reading »
We have no reason to believe such is the case! We simply offer up the timing of the aggressively awkward interview with Goldman Sachs’ Abby Joseph Cohen, the interviewer’s resignation several days later, and The Power Of The Squid. [NYO via DI]
Bloomberg Has A Frank Talk About The Impact Of Protests In Egypt On The Country’s Economy And Bond Market
By Bess Levin
With an aggressive amount of cleave on the side. To underscore the gravity of the situation. Continue reading »
Absurd Speculation That SAC Capital Might Lower Its Fees On Account Of Investor Demand Can Be Nipped In The Bud Right Now
By Bess Levin
As some of you may know, hedge fund SAC Capital charges fees of 3&50, which are somewhat higher than the industry norm. The firm has been able to “justify” such high charges on account of its historically impressive performance (such as the 73% it returned in 2000) but now, after a year in which SAC only gained 15.85%, some people, like a guy named Donald, are suggesting their “sky-high fees may no longer be tolerated.”
“Investors view Steven Cohen as a money maker, but the market is far more competitive now than it was four years ago,” said Donald Steinbrugge, managing partner at investment consulting firm Agecroft Partners. “And for anyone who has very high fees like SAC, it is going to be very difficult for them to get hired.”Some people would be wrong.
And despite there being no evidence that SAC investors are going anywhere, others have sounded a similar alarm. As these people clearly know not of which they speak but insist on continuing to do so, some truth must be laid on their asses. Continue reading »
January performance Tudor Investment Corp’s Momentum and Tensor funds. Continue reading »
Hedge Fund Applicant Busts Out The Jazz Hands, Clip Art, Exclamation Points, Beginner Kayaking Skills For Shock And Awe Résumé
By Bess LevinAll should take notes. Continue reading »
A very wise, British-born, not banker but nevertheless partner of Goldman Sachs tasked with dealing with the firm’s image once lamented, “Jamie Dimon tells the government to wank off and the public calls him oh so spirited. Would life change for me if Lloyd wore lifts?” The Masters of the Universe aren’t usually ones to whine (or give a baker’s fuck about what the public thinks) but honestly, what the hell? Why is it that when Goldman has some maybe non-consensual relations with the economy it’s not okay but when JPMorgan does they’re the best bank in the world? How is it that Goldman can somehow get blamed when a kid in Akron, Ohio kicks a puppy but senior management at JPMorgan picks up where Michael Vick left off and they’re just having some fun? Or Lloyd Blankfein is a monster for passing a hobo and only giving him a dollar (when he made so much more last year) but Jamie Dimon rapes the same hobo after helping himself to some change and he’s “just being affectionate.” It’s just not fair and it makes no sense, have come the wails from within 200 West.
The double-standard struck the most sensitive nerve, of course, immediately following the crisis when the hate for Lloyd and GS versus the perceived love for James was so great Goldman’s board considered asking LB to wear a Jamie mask “just in public, or when addressing large groups of people, reporters, etc.” So we were interested to find out if the public’s perception of JD v. LB still chapped some Goldman hide now that things have calmed down a bit. Turns out it does. Continue reading »
If you thought Mr. Jiang and his team were just going to rest on their laurels after being named the top emerging market fund of 2010, you thought wrong! Continue reading »
