Wolf Richter: Financial Chaos, Junk Bond Edition
Junk bonds are at 2008 bottom levels by some measures. But are they a bargain, or a falling safe?
Read more...Category Archives: Investment management
Stock Market Investors Abandon Private Equity, Expect No Profits Overall From Current Deals
Equity investors think private equity funds will show no profits on their current deals, which contrasts sharply with portfolio company valuations.
Read more...CalPERS Takes on Risk Where Federal Government Fears to Tread: Provides Liquidity to a Derivatives Central Counterparty on the Cheap
CalPERS has engaged in one of the most bone-headed moves ever, the financial equivalent of picking up pennies before a steamroller.
Read more...CalPERS, CalSTRS Board Member Betty Yee Asks the SEC to Rescue Public Pension Funds From Themselves
California State Controller Betty Yee makes some underwhelming private equity reform proposals.
Read more...Central Counterparties: The New Locus of Systemic Risk?
Central counterparties, also known as central clearinghouses, were supposed to reduce systemic risk. That story is not playing out according to its script.
Read more...Investors Piling into Illiquid Assets to Avoid Discipline of Market Prices
Investors are piling into risky, illiquid assets at the worst possible time and for the worst reason: to fake performance.
Read more...CalPERS CEO Anne Stausboll to Retire June 30
CalPERS’ CEO Anne Stausboll unexpectedly announced her plan to retire. The most probable explanation does not reflect well on her.
Read more...Bloomberg Spotlights Poor Private Equity Returns From Last “Peak of Cycle” Mega Deals
Buying at the peak rarely works out, as private equity’s pre-crisis mega deals confirm. Yet general partners fared really well.
Read more...Funds Hold Most Cash Since GFC
Fund manager cash holdings are at crisis-bottom levels, typically a sound bullish indicator. But will history predict the future this time?
Read more...Investment Manager GMO Debunks Mythology of “Sound Finance,” or Deficit Hawkery
Yves here. Sometimes it is best to let things speak for themselves. In that spirit, I am embedding a very important paper by the well-respected investment management firm GMO which debunks the tenets of “sound finance,” meaning the claim that governments need to balance their budgets. I expect to be referring to it regularly, particularly […]
Read more...Edward Lambert: Forecasting the Stock Market thru Effective Demand
Dave here. The markets have taken a beating in 2016, and while the fallacy of thinking the market=the economy seems like an oversimplification, this post provides a competing viewpoint that, without taking a position in affirmation or dissent, I thought I would offer up for discussion. For some background, you can read Edward’s other posts […]
Read more...Why is CalPERS Understating Its Cost of Investing in Private Equity by Roughly $1.6 Billion, Meaning 80%?
CalPERS keeps putting its hand in the buzzsaw by presenting misleading or outright false information about private equity fees and costs.
Read more...Bond Investors Get Skittish as Record Wave of Acquisitions Push to Close Financings
Standard & Poors warns of the worst drop in the “net outlook bias” for bond investors since the financial crisis.
Read more...Puerto Rico Defaults a Second Time; Claims of “Scheming” Designed to Crush Island Citizens
Puerto Rico fails to pay $37.3 million in bonds due today. While investors and analysts call it a bluff, the stakes are quite real.
Read more...CalPERS: Stockholm Syndrome and Cowardice on Private Equity Fee Disclosure
I have wanted to leave CalPERS alone. Really. Truly. But they keep asking for attention in the worst possible way.
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