There’s been plenty of discussion on this blog and elsewhere of the questionable role of rating agencies, particularly regarding collateralized debt obligations. Rating agencies are slow to downgrade weakening credits (if you are in the debt business, this is very old news), suffer from acute conflicts of interest in rating CDOs (they are a de […]
Read more...OK, schizophrenia is a bit too strong a word, but it got your attention, right? “Dissonance” is closer to the mark, and differing points of view in a plugged-in, market-savvy paper like the Financial Times is an interesting sight to behold. Both stories address the same general topic, namely, whether the current mess in subprimes […]
Read more...Another day, another subprime casualty? The Caliber hedge fund was heavily exposed to 2005 subprimes, which is a new cause for pause, since heretofore, it was the 2006 subprimes that had shown the worst performance. But now troubles are showing up in the 2005 cohort. The UK fund isn’t as big as either of the […]
Read more...Barry Ritholtz gave some helpful tidbits about CDOs on his blog, The Big Picture. The source is the Bloomberg magazine (unfortunately only for those with terminals can subscribe). From Ritholtz (quoting Bloomberg); “Worldwide sales of CDOs—which are packages of securities backed by bonds, mortgages and other loans—have soared since 2003, reaching $503 billion last year, […]
Read more...Apologies for being a tad late on this item, an article by the Financial Times’ lead editorial writer Martin Wolf, “Risks and rewards of today’s unshackled global finance.” Power went down in parts of Manhattan today, which put a crimp in my schedule. So I will be briefer than I might otherwise be. I was […]
Read more...An solid article by John Cassidy in the New Yorker, “Hedge Clipping,” on the work of former equity derivatives trader turned academic Henry Kat, who researched hedge fund performance extensively and concluded 80% of them fail to earn their handsome fees (in industry jargon, whatever alpha they generate, which is the excess return due to […]
Read more...We’re shocked,shocked! The state of Massachusetts has filed a complaint that accuses UBS of giving kickbacks (without using that word) to hedge fund clients: cheap rent, personal loans at below-market interest rates, and other goodies. An interesting question is whether the charge regarding below-market rent referred to incubators. Some prime brokers will give fledgling hedge […]
Read more...All the usual suspects are reporting that the SEC is planning to investigate the failed Bear Stearns hedge funds and CDOs generally. The Financial Times provides a succinct account: The Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday said it had initiated a broad-based investigation into the troubled subprime mortgage market. Christopher Cox, chairman of the SEC, […]
Read more...Either it’s a horribly slow news day, or the Bloomberg people are besotted with the Bear Stearns story. I imagine journalists enjoy schaudenfreude as much as the next guy. From late afternoon until now, even after the Asian markets have opened, the top story on its “Breaking News” section is, “Bear Stearns Enlists Mortgage Chief […]
Read more...Felix Salmon commented on an intriguing and colorful post by Steve Waldman that argues that it’s in China’s best interest to buy a few CDOs and save the Street and the hedge fund industry from a meltdown and possible jail time. Here is the meat of Waldman’s argument: Here’s where the dragon comes in. Several […]
Read more...Bloomberg is keeping up a rapid pace of stories on the Bear Stearns hedge funds. Bear has apparently found some buyers for the assets of its High-Grade Structured Credit Leveraged Fund, the one for which it put in place a secured credit facility to permit an orderly workout. This was not an official announcement by […]
Read more...Merrill Lynch analyst Guy Moszkowski confirms our views of the last few days, that Bear Stearns will probably have to orchestrate some sort of orderly wind-up for its second hedge fund, the High-Grade Structured Credit Enhanced Leveraged Fund. For those who have not been following this story closely, Bear had two funds, both managed by […]
Read more...Before readers get too excited, let me be clear: this post is to discuss what circumstances might lead Bear Stearns to cease to be an independent organization. It is not an attempt to forecast the likelihood of that taking place. Despite their considerable prowess, investment banks are fragile organizations. It took only one major scandal […]
Read more...By happenstance, I came across a document, “Fixed Income Overview” from a May 29, 2007 Bear Stearns Investor Day presentation by Jeff Mayer, Co-Head of Global Fixed Income, and Tom Marano, Global Head of Mortgages and Asset Backed Securities on the Bear Stearns website. It’s a fascinating bit of reading and some parts are particularly […]
Read more...In case you missed it, the US stock market was rattled by the continuing aftershocks of the Bear Stearns subprime-related hedge fund fallout, with the Dow down 185, and Bear itself was down in line with the Dow (both fell 1.4%, although Bear was up slightly in the aftermarket at this hour). Now the odd […]
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