82 replies to this topic

[Barbones]

One Of The Biggest 'Hedge Funds' In The World Is Getting Destroyed By The Yen


One of the biggest leveraged hedge funds in the world got hit with a 2×4 during the 4^th Q. This fund has a mixed bag of assets, but was heavily exposed to big FX positions.
The fund made a big “bet” recently when they went short EURYEN. This turned sour in a very big way; the EURYEN moved an incredible 14 big figures against them in just 60 trading days.


Read more: http://www.businessi...1#ixzz2GpDsw5Ir

[Barbones]

Google CEO Larry Page envisions a future in which computers plan your vacations, drive your cars, and anticipate your whims. Audacious? Maybe. But Page's dreams have a way of coming true.

Note: On Jan 3, as Fortune published this article, the Federal Trade Commission ended its investigation of Google's search practices saying it found no evidence that the company manipulated search results in violation of antitrust laws. The European Commission and other regulators continue to investigate the issue.

FORTUNE -- When Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, the giant advertising agency, visited Google this past fall, CEO Larry Page sent a car to pick him up at the Rosewood Hotel about 20 miles away. Only this was no ordinary car. The Lexus SUV drove itself thanks to a slew of high-tech tools, including radars, sensors, and a laser scanner that takes more than 1.5 million measurements every second. For about 20 minutes, while navigating I-280 and the area's busy State Route 85, the car cruised on autopilot, making quick course corrections, slowing down here when traffic loomed ahead, speeding up there to get out of the blind spot of a neighboring vehicle. "It was pretty incredible," says Sorrell.

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/01/03/google-larry-page/?iid=F_F500M

Edited by Barbones, 08 January 2013 - 12:21 AM.

[Barbones]

Goldman's Jan Hatzius is out with an excellent note that essentially calls for the economic crisis to end in 2013.
The title of the note is The US Economy in 2013-2016: Moving Over the Hump, and the gist is that 2013 will be the last year of sub-trend growth.



Read more: http://www.businessi...2#ixzz2MfE8vcxT

Edited by Barbones, 05 March 2013 - 01:30 PM.

[Barbones]

Stocks are just points away from their all-time highs. And there are plenty of arguments why this could be a top for the markets.

But the bear case for stocks is mostly backwards-looking or based on short-term risks.
Yes, global growth is slow.
But the economy is still growing, and S&P 500 companies are actively increasing exposures to regions where growth is hot.



Read more: http://www.businessi...1#ixzz2MfFC75PD

[Barbones]

It Looks Like Everyone Owes Bernanke A Big Apology

Read more: http://www.businessi...7#ixzz2YGtgecYe

[Barbones]

SIX THINGS WE LEARNED FROM BERNANKE’S TESTIMONY
 

 
Years ago, while attending an economics conference, I heard someone—I think it was Richard Freeman, of Harvard, but I couldn’t swear to it—respond to a presentation by saying that it hadn’t cleared up the issue at hand but that it had improved the quality of our ignorance. Two days of testimony on Capitol Hill from Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, has accomplished something similar. At the end of it, we still don’t know for sure where Fed policy, and the global markets that depend upon it, will go from here. But we have learned some valuable things. Here are six of them:[/size]
http://www.newyorker...-testimony.html

 

 

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/SPX:IND
http://www.usatoday....ursday/2540807/

Edited by Barbones, 19 July 2013 - 12:23 AM.

[Barbones]

Quantitative prop trader: 'I wouldn't try to raise the price of rice and starve China'

 

Joris Luyendijk meets a trader who says their approach is far from 'evil', but one of extreme caution and calculation

• This monologue is part of a series in which people across the financial sector speak about their working lives

 

"So far you miss a speculator, the finance bad guy," he wrote in the blog. "Well, that would be me," adding: "If we go for some food you'll be able to make one of those nice plate descriptions  " So we're meeting one harsh, cold February evening for dinner in Strada, an Italian restaurant opposite the now-evicted Occupy camp. He is an inconspicuous-looking man, originally from continental Europe. He orders a vegetarian pasta and sparkling water.

 

http://www.guardian....e?newsfeed=true

Edited by Barbones, 22 July 2013 - 06:46 PM.

[Barbones]

[Barbones]

Bond market shows signs of the European economic recovery

“The data has picked up nicely. It’s quite rare you get a bear market led by Europe,” said David Keeble, head of interest-rate strategy at Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank. “I think the market has assumed too much pessimism regarding Europe and it’s in the process of unwinding pessimism.”

 

http://blogs.marketw...nomic-recovery/

[Barbones]

It’s time to stop listening to Bernanke Commentary: Does the Fed have too much influence on equities?

 

Bernanke prides himself on his transparency, and indeed his Fed is an open book compared with the “Secrets of the Temple” days under the great Paul Volcker. Back in the 1980s,the Fed didn’t hold news conferences nor did it even announce interest-rate moves. Fed watchers employed by Wall Street firms had to glean the news indirectly.

But with openness has come confusion, especially when Bernanke lays out all the options in classic “on the one hand, on the other hand” economist fashion.

The truth is the Fed can’t commit to a future course of action that depends on what actually happens in the economy, because that’s unpredictable by definition. Meanwhile, investors keep looking for certainty in an uncertain world. June’s experience showed that sitting tight would have been the smart move.

 

http://www.marketwat...26?pagenumber=2