Monday, June 27, 2011

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Fed Seen Purchasing $300 Billion in Treasuries After QE2

San Francisco Chronicle - an hour ago

June 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve will remain the biggest buyer of Treasuries, even after the second round of quantitative easing ends this week, as the central bank uses its $2.86 trillion balance sheet to keep interest rates low.

Oil Prices Fall as Negative Sentiments Prevail

Wall Street Journal - an hour ago

By KONSTANTIN ROZHNOV LONDON—Brent crude-oil prices fell as the dollar strengthened and as investors continue to consider the effects of the International Energy Agency's release of oil stocks last week.

GLOBAL MARKETS-Investors cautious ahead of Greek austerity vote

Reuters - 5 hours ago

By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Investors went on the defensive on Monday ahead of a Greek austerity vote that may sow stronger doubts about financial stability and economic

Pimco sees rising inflation for 3 - 5 years

MarketWatch - 13 minutes ago

By Kathleen Madigan NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Prospects of higher commodity prices and currency shifts will drive global inflation higher in the next few years, according to a report released ...

4 Long Ideas and 2 Short Ideas for July

Seeking Alpha - 12 minutes ago

Alcoa (AA) – Aluminum demand remains strong and Alcoa just landed a deal to supply advanced-generation aluminum alloy products to Airbus, which landed $15.6 billion dollars of new orders at the ...

Small Stocks Making Big Progress: CLSN, FTWR, and SALM

Small Cap Network - 8 minutes ago

Small caps Celsion Corporation, Salem Communications Corp., FiberTower Corporation are overcoming the odds; here's what to watch for. By James E. Brumley Not that it's a guaranteed sign of buy ...

Economic Outlook: Hobbling big banks

istockAnalyst.com - 7 minutes ago

If a bank regulator wants to go for the jugular, raising capital requirements is one of the surest ways to do so. In China, for example, the central bank is slowing the economy not by raising ...

U.S. retail to outpace European: Deloitte

Reuters - 5 minutes ago

By Mark Potter LONDON (Reuters) - US retailers will return to modest growth in time for the holiday season, outpacing their counterparts in Europe which will suffer the effects of a debt crisis ...

Constant Contact Launches Free Social Media Marketing Gui...

Business Wire - 5 minutes ago

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Small businesses and nonprofits looking to ramp up their social media marketing efforts have a new online resource to help them get started or improve their ...

Standard & Poor's Adds Public Finance Data and Risk Analy...

PR Newswire - 4 minutes ago

NEW YORK, June 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Valuation and Risk Strategies today announced the launch of powerful new analytics and data capabilities for investors in publicly-financed securities ..

Dissolution of Hacker Group Might Not End Attacks

By RIVA RICHMOND and NICK BILTON

In its farewell, Lulz Security urged other hackers to join the "revolution" aimed at governments and corporations.

Genentech to Appeal to F.D.A. for Breast Cancer Drug

By ANDREW POLLACK

Genentech will ask the F.D.A. to rethink its proposal to revoke the approval of Avastin for breast cancer on the grounds that new studies did not confirm that the drug helped patients.

For the Producer of 'Survivor' and 'The Voice,' There's No Sitting Still

By BILL CARTER

For Mark Burnett, the reality television producer who has five prime-time series on the air in America, being busy is one of the keys to his success.

Greek deputies to begin debate on crucial austerity plans before votes
ATHENS, Greece — Greek lawmakers begin debating new austerity plans Monday that must pass this week if the debt-ridden country is to receive the critical next installment of loans from its international bailout plan and avoid default. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

The Celebrity Moment ( by TechCrunch.com , TechCrunch.com)

Saab says $18.4 million car order from China could pay staff's wages
STOCKHOLM — Troubled car maker Saab Automobile AB has received a €13 million ($18.4 million) car order from a Chinese company that could help pay salaries to its employees, its owner Swedish Automobile AB said Monday. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

Akzo Nobel, world's biggest paintmaker, warns 'adverse factors' will hurt Q2 earnings
AMSTERDAM — Akzo Nobel NV, the world’s largest maker of paint, warned Monday that second-quarter earnings will be hurt by commodity price rises, weak business in some regions and maintenance delays at some plants. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

Oil falls to near $90 a barrel in Asia as US dollar gains amid Greek debt crisis
SINGAPORE — Oil prices fell to near $90 a barrel Monday in Asia as a stronger U.S. dollar made crude more expensive for investors with other currencies. ( Associated Press Associated Press , AP)

Asia Today: China Releases Activist; New Bank Rule
Chinese authorities release AIDS activist Hu Jia, but ban him - like recently released artist Ai Weiwei - from talking to the media. Regulators beef up capital requirements to ensure large banks have financial padding.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/?p=13980?mod=djemChinaRTR_t

Japanese Group in China to Promote Nuke Knowledge
In the wake of one of the world's worst nuclear accidents, the last thing one would expect Japan to tout globally is its nuclear power technology.
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/?p=13976?mod=djemChinaRTR_t

China Risks Being Next Property-Bubble Blow Up
A recent decline in Chinese real-estate prices is starting to shake confidence in the country's economic vitality and open a debate about whether the country's economy is over-leveraged.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304569504576403793565756986.html?mod=djemChinaRTR_t

SBI Capital Markets to Review GTL Business

GTL and unit GTL Infrastructure said they named SBI Capital Markets to review their businesses as well as financial performance and obligations, in an effort to dispel investors' concerns arising from the recent slump in their stocks.

Venture Capitalist Reid Hoffman

Hoffman on how to hit a fast-moving target in the second-wave Web boom.

Economics Journal: Will the ‘New’ Middle Class Create Friction?

Supporters of the anti-corruption civil society groups are seeking to redefine how democracy functions in India. That?s legitimate but could backfire and pose a threat to India?s economic growth, argues Rupa Subramanya Dehejia.

As Peruvian Govt. struggles to end anti-mining violence, Bear Creek threatens to sue

With public transport crippled after weeks of protests that have now turned deadly, Peru's President Garcia says he has more to worry about than the fallout over Bear Creek's revoked silver project permit. Monday , 27 Jun 2011

Outlook still bright for gold, silver and base metals stocks - Mosseri & Loud

Jeff Mosseri and Doug Loud, at Greystone Asset Management bring us up to date on sectors they think have what it takes to produce some major gains. Gold Report interview. Monday , 27 Jun 2011

Labor Party opposition in Western Australia puts ban on uranium mining

Counter to the federal party, the Western Australian division of Australia's Labor Party has reaffirmed a ban on uranium mining in the State, should it be re-elected Monday , 27 Jun 2011

Spot iron ore prices fall to three-month lows

The spot price of iron ore lost further ground on Monday as supplies remained strong but signs that demand would pick up in the near-term remained tellingly absent Monday , 27 Jun 2011

India's love of gold and its impact on global demand

Data and notes on the Indian love of gold as an expression of wealth. Financial security and family stability and its huge impact on the global gold market. Sunday , 26 Jun 2011

Futures up after streak of losses NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures rose on Monday, putting Wall Street on track to rebound after three days of losses, although investors remained cautious about Greece's fiscal future. | Full Article

Sarkozy says banks accept Greek debt rollover June 27, 2011 07:40 AM ET ATHENS/PARIS (Reuters) - French banks have agreed to roll over holdings of Greek debt for 30 years, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday, as the Greek government fought to persuade backbench rebels to back a crucial austerity plan to avert bankruptcy. | Full Article

China's Wen signals doubt inflation goal can be met June 27, 2011 02:33 AM ET HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao signaled for the first time that China would struggle to meet its 4 percent inflation target this year, underlining expectations that interest rates will rise further even as economic growth slows down. | Full Article

France's Lagarde poised to become next IMF chief June 27, 2011 12:17 AM ET WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) - French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde appeared poised to become the head of the International Monetary Fund this week despite a strong challenge to Europe's traditional hold on the job. | Full Article

Japan could face a third "lost" decade - Moody's 27 JUN 2011 11:15 BST TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan could face a third "lost" decade of sluggish economic growth that will leave it struggling to whittle down the heaviest debt burden among developed nations, Moody's ratings agency said on Monday. | Full Article

Greece to debate austerity package under EU pressure ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek minister warned on Monday of "catastrophe" if parliament blocked a 28 billion-euro ($40 billion) package of tax increases and spending cuts after signs of revolt by some deputies in the ruling PASOK party. | Full Article

Facebook overtakes Microsoft in UK: UKOM/Nielsen June 27, 2011 03:33 AM ET LONDON, Jun (Reuters) - Facebook overtook Microsoft websites in Britain for the first time last month, becoming the UK's second-most popular after Google as people aged over 50 flocked to social networks, online measurement body UKOM/Nielsen said. | Full Article

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Benjamin Graham Was A Crappy Hedge Fund Manager

Jack Bogle, the outspoken godfather of index funds and passive investing strategies, didn't approve of a recent Wall Street Journal article defending hedge funds.

In particular, he took issue with the author's reference to Benjamin Graham, the legendary Columbia finance professor who literally wrote the book on Security Analysis and mentored Warren Buffett.

Bogle wrote a letter to the editor. Here's an excerpt: Citing Benjamin Graham as the first "hedged fund" operator is an especially unfortunate example. "The trick," Mr. Rice writes, was Graham's "clever way to make money . . . whether it [the market] continued to rise, or started to fall." ...

Proposal for New Hedge Fund Fee Structure: 1% + 33% of Alpha

By The Big Picture

One of my pet peeves is the way that insiders -- whether corporate CEOs, hedge fund managers, or elected politicos -- capture compensation (or credit) for normal cyclical gains they had little or nothing to do with.

This is the approach favored by the Crony Capitalists — those people pretending to be free market participants, and who merely pretend to be creating value. They are taking credit for structural successes that would have occurred with or without them. What they are actually doing is capturing value, not creating it — and then transferring it from its true owners (shareholders/investors) to themselves.

This is wrong; it is legalized theft.

If you want to see a good example of how CEOs transfer shareholder wealth to themselves, a good place to start is Roger Lowenstein’s 2004 book, Origins of the Crash: The Great Bubble and Its Undoing. The section on CEO compensation is astounding; these guys were essentially getting wildly overcompensated for being CEOs during a bull market. The prime example was the CEO of Heinz, who gave himself (with the tacit approval of his Board of~~Crony~~ Directors) a $90 million bonus. And this was back in the early 1990s, when $90 million was real money.

Why Do You Want To Be A Hedge Fund Investor?

www.ritholtz.com

Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs Asset Management announced that it would launch a new mutual fund that — apparently — will bring the joy of hedge fund investing to the masses. For as little as $1,000, the Multi-Manager Alternatives Fund (GMAMX) allows mom-and-pop investors to put their life savings into some of Wall Street’s riskiest and most expensive products. This “fund of funds” will, according to its prospectus, let investors gain exposure to the trading strategies of hedge funds...

Public pensions fare well with hedge funds

Big public pension funds reaped strong returns from their hedge fund portfolios in 2012, with most of them handily surpassing their own benchmarks and well-used industry indexes. The hedge fund portfolios, for the most part, achieved close to what chief investment officers wanted, despite a 1,500-basis-point difference between the best and worst performers, according toPensions & Investments' analysis of the returns of 19 hedge fund portfolios from 17 U.S. public retirement plans with aggregate hedge fund assets of $60.7 billion.

Daniel Loeb surfing to the top of the hedge fund charts again

Something must be in the water over at 399 Park Avenue, where Daniel Loeb's hedge fund Third Point is headquartered. His Third Point Ultra fund has already gained 12.42 percent this year through the 13th of March, according to data from HSBC’s Private Bank.

The portfolio added 3.3 percent alone between March 1 and March 13. By comparison, hedge funds have returned about 4 percent year-to-date, according to HSBC.

The roughly $1.7 billion Ultra portfolio is a levered version of the firm’s flagship Offshore fund, which manages about $5.7 billion and has gained 8.5 percent over the same period. ...

CHART: Hedge Fund Gold Allocation Falls

After taking a cursory look at the recent 13-Fs filed by hedge funds, it became apparent that hedge funds were scaling back their exposures to gold. George Soros was among the big names that unloaded his position. According to Goldman Sachs' new Hedge Fund Trend Monitor report, hedge funds in aggregate scaled back big time.

Despite low turnover, hedge funds notably reduced holdings of underperforming long-time favorites Apple and gold while raising allocations to rallying Financials. For the first time in three years AAPL was not the top stock in our VIP list, instead ranking as the third most frequent top-10 holding... Continue to read.

10 Publicly Traded Hedge Funds That Pay a Dividend
Investing in publicly traded hedge funds is a great way for an investor to see returns through capital appreciation and dividend payments in the financial sector. When it comes to investing, many think of the process as a choice between growth and value stocks; you’re either taking on risk in search of capital appreciation, or you’re seeking out stable sources of current income through dividend payments. Luckily, Wall Street has many investment options and investors don’t have to make a clear-cut choice between capital gains and dividends. There are a lot of misunderstandings about dividend stocks out there; make sure you’re investing for the right reasons, check out 5 Common Misconceptions About Dividend Investing. ... Continue.

Hedge Funds Love These 3 Outperforming Semiconductor Stocks ...
Do you like to follow the buying trends of smart money investors? We ran a screen to find semiconductor stocks currently in favor by hedge fund managers. We began by screening the semiconductor industry for stocks that are rallying above their 20-day, 50-day, and 200-day moving averages, indicating that these stocks have strong upward momentum.
We then screened for those with bullish sentiment from institutional investors, with significant net institutional purchases over the last quarter representing at least 5% of share float. ... Continue.

10 REITs Absolutely Adored By Hedge Funds
After identifying the most popular stocks among hedge funds (see our full Top 10 here) according to their third-quarter 13F filings, we have decided to break down the top 10 REIT stocks that hedge funds love. The REIT industry, notably specialized REITs in hospitality and healthcare, should see positive growth from a rise in job growth and expansion due to freeing up of the credit markets. Our list includes 400 hedge funds and prominent investors that are required by the SEC to disclose their public equity holdings quarterly. In descending order, we have outlined the most-loved REIT stocks based on the aggregate number of funds owning each. ...Continue.

Apple Stock Hit by Panic Selling: 'Someone Yelled Fire'(Yahoo) Forget the "fiscal cliff." The real panic on Wall Street is over Apple's stock. Nearly every mutual and hedge fund has piled into Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) during its spectacular rise over the past few years. Now, these same funds are scrambling for the exits as the stock goes through an equally spectacular decline. Apple plunged to a six-month low Thursday as funds rushed to take profits on the stock before it's too late. Shares are now off 25 percent since late September-shortly after the iPhone 5 launch and a month before the iPad Mini introduction. The stock, once up 74 percent on the year, is still up 30 percent for 2012. That's why Wall Street is getting out while it can. ...

Billionaire George Soros’s Latest Stock Picks (InsiderMonkey) George Soros is best known for the fortune he made shorting the British pound in 1992, but he currently invests a considerable amount of money in equities and so is required to report many of his long positions in 13F filings. We’ve gone through the 13F for the third quarter of the year and compared Soros’s holdings at the end of September to three months earlier. Read on for our impression of his moves and compare them to what he's bought and sold before. AIG. American International Group, Inc. (NYSE::AIG) became Soros’s largest 13F equity holding during the third quarter with a position of over 15 million shares being reported in the filing. A number of value investors have been getting into the insurer over the course of the year, and at a P/B ratio of 0.5 it certainly looks cheap compared to the book value of its equity. We also like its earnings multiples- it trades at 9 times forward earnings estimates- and revenue was up strongly in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2011. Fellow billionaire Dan Loeb had initiated a position during the second quarter of 2012 and we think that it still looks like a good buy for investors. ...

Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers still facing issues as tough year nears an end (BizJournals) In late 2011, Jim Rogers seemed almost golden. He was about to close his last big merger deal. He was poised to take a corporate chairmanship tailored to his penchants for energy policy and reshaping the utility-business model. He was ready to bask in the spotlight of a national convention he’d helped bring to Charlotte. But by late 2012, it’s evident things have not gone so well. “It has been a year of challenges,” the Duke Energy Corp. chief executive concedes. “Nothing in life is perfect.” Dan Fogel, associate director of the Wake Forest University Business School’s Center for Energy, ...

Argo unveils emerging markets hedge fund (InvestmentWeek) Argo Group has launched an emerging markets hedge fund investing in bonds and currencies from a universe of over 40 emerging market countries. The Argo Local Markets fund aims to hold between 20 and 30 positions and has been launched with an initial $7m of seed capital. It will offer investors weekly liquidity and has a mandate to take on moderate leverage. Argo chief executive Kyriakos Rialas said: "The case for investing in emerging markets is compelling. ...

Argentina's President Is Making Great Political Theater Out Of Paul Singer Seizing The Country's Naval Ship(BusinessInsider) Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is turning her feud with hedge fund manager Paul Singer into a political rallying cry in Argentina. The President has refused to pay Singer's firm Elliott Management the $1.3 billion it owes the fund after it defaulted in 2010. de Kirchner says it's because Singer was given multiple chances (in 2005 and 2010) to restructure, like other hedge funds did, and take a haircut to recoup at least a portion of their losses. Singer, needless to say, did not. Instead, he decided to capture one of Argentina's naval vessels as collateral, and got Ghana to give him an order to detain the ARA Libertad last month. ...

Tom Steyer New Investments
FARALLON CAPITAL Hedge fund billionaire into politics (DailyDemocrat) Hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer staked millions of his own money to take on big oil and then to close a corporate-tax loophole costing California $1 billion a year -- and won both times. Ever heard of him? Don't worry, you will. With his latest behind-the-scenes win at the polls as the man who stared down big business by standing up for Proposition 39, this Stanford MBA and top Obama fundraiser has become an out-of-nowhere big-time political player in California. So what does Tom Steyer want now? "I am an enormous lover of California and to the extent that I see something wrong, I will be involved in trying to fix it," Steyer, 55, said Monday. "What form that takes, I don't have a fixed idea." ...

This Hedge Fund Returned Nearly 25% Last Quarter
Artis Capital Management was a top performing hedge fund during the third quarter. Coming in with the fourth best Q3 performance, the fund’s picks had a weighted average return of 25.5% during the first half of the year, and returned 24.6% for the third quarter, boosting the fund’s year to date performance to 56.4%. Artis Capital was founded in 2001 and is a San Francisco-based hedge fund with a focus on public technology companies. ... Read more.

More ETFs Play Hedge Fund Copycat
What if you could emulate the actions of the most successful hedge fund managers for a fraction of what they cost? Two ETFs that debuted this summer are trying to do that by using public filings to replicate their portfolios. And a third, which launched early this month, promises to add another hedge fund dimension to ETF copycats by adopting what its sponsor calls the only true market-neutral strategy in the lot. Researchers have been trying to emulate hedge fund strategies since the 1990s ... Read more

BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé.

BMW and Pininfarina are two of the most tradition-swathed names in the motoring world. Each is a byword for cutting-edge technology, style, dynamics and aesthetics. With the BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé, the two

time-honoured companies are unveiling the outcome of their first collaboration at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2013. The BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé is a one-off and represents the exclusive interpretation of a luxurious BMW Coupé as seen through the eyes of Pininfarina.

...

All Time Record Gold Transactions Reported By LBMA

The precious metals have been weak again in May with gold falling 4.4% despite this weeks’ recovery. Silver is down 7% and platinum by 2.6%. Palladium has recovered from recent weakness and those who accumulated on weakness are set for the best month since November after it surged 6.6% in May.

Weakness in gold and silver is leading to robust demand internationally as store of value buyers accumulate gold and silver on this dip. This is particularly the case in Asia where premiums remain robust and supply demand imbalances remain. ...

6 Tips to Work From Home Successfully

The future of work is the work itself, not where and when the work takes place. Workplace flexibility programs are already catching on and will soon become standardized as more millennials enter the workplace. All workers, not just millennials,want freedom and flexibility and some are even quitting their jobs to becoming freelancers in order to gain that freedom. oDesk.com has 3.3 million registered freelancers, and Intuit predicts that by 2020, 40% of Americans will be freelancers. When it comes to working from home, 13.4 million people (9.4% of all American workers) work from home at least one day per week compared to just 9.2 million in 1997 according to one Census Bureau.

Today's top Green Energy Good News

Russia is funding research into powering its airplanes with solar energy. The airline industry is being hurt by high fuel prices, and solar-powered planes would not only be cheaper but also would remove a major source of carbon pollution that contributes to global warming.

Texas is set to double its wind energy generation from 60 gigawatts to 120 gigawatts in 2013.

Britain has made substantial investments in wind energy and its technology. British PM David Cameron is touting his country’s green expertise on his trip to India to promote trade with that country. ... Continue.

High-Dividend ETFs with Reasonable Valuations

Investors have picked over the ETF universe in search of any kind of yield in an extremely low-rate market for bonds. As a result, ETFs tracking many traditional high-yield sectors have been bid up to expensive levels, but there are still places investors can go for income without paying nosebleed valuations. “Unfortunately, valuations [for dividends, high-yield junk bonds, MLPs, and REITs] are approaching sky high levels in many instances as more investors fall in love with these products ... Continue.