Hottest Links edition for Thursday afternoon (see yesterday’s hottest links here). We hope to make hottest links a regular feature and this is just the beginning of a great linkfest to appear regularly. Feel free to send us feedback on our Hottest Links.
Hottest links for Thursday July 11, 2013
Hottest Links: Hedge Funds
Hedge Fund Alpha is Negative; Down Around 1700 BPs in 11 Years while correlation soars [ValueWalk]
At Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD), Eddie Lampert’s Warring Divisions Model Adds to the Troubles
Every year the presidents of Sears Holdings’ (SHLD) many business units trudge across the company’s sprawling headquarters in Hoffman Estates, Ill., to a conference room in Building B, where they ask Eddie Lampert for money.
Property Crushes Hedge Funds in Alternative Markets
The occasion was Blackstone’s third annual investor day, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its August issue.
Hedge Funds Are for Suckers
At the height of the financial crisis in 2008, a group of famous hedge fund managers was made to stand before Congress like thieves in a stockade and defend their existence to an angry public.
[Sheelah Kolhatkar, BusinessWeek]
Hedge Funds Take Center Stage At Prime Minister’s Questions
British Prime Minister David Cameron was criticized for his party’s reliance on donations from hedge funds during a testy session of Prime Minister’s Questions this week.
[Finalternatives]
Hottest Links: Economy
Turkey’s blown more than 10% of its currency reserves to defend the lira in the past month. It hasn’t really worked.
Turkey’s central bank takes with one hand and gives back with the other.
India: reserves declining, record outflows from bonds and shares
Barclays Capital had a sobering update on India today. Apparently June saw the largest outflows on record from India bonds and equities portfolios.
[Sober Look, Credit Writedowns]
Will the Fed “Taper” in September if the August unemployment rate is 7.6%? No
The BLS will release two more employment reports before the September 17-18 FOMC meeting (employment reports for July and August). The current unemployment rate is 7.6% (as of June), and the Fed’s forecast is for the unemployment rate to decline to an average of 7.2% to 7.3% in Q4 of this year.
[Bill McBride, Calculated Risk]
So, This is Happening in the U.S. Real Estate Market….
I guess the idea that housing is a new asset class is taking on a new life of its own (again). No, it wasn’t enough to see housing nearly crater the entire economy.
How Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Saved Its Employees from Wall Street
As Google’s historic August 2004 IPO approached, the company’s senior vice president, Jonathan Rosenberg, realized he was about to spawn hundreds of impetuous young multimillionaires.
[Joshua M Brown, The Reformed broker]
Portuguese President Re-Ignites “Time-Bomb”; Threatens Early Elections
Despite being told last week of the successful solution that the politicians of Portugal had procured – and thusly seeing Portuguese bonds and stocks surge in a renewed bluster of hope and faith that all is well again; it seems that, shocker, nothing is fixed.
The wheels are coming off the whole of southern Europe
Europe’s debt-crisis strategy is near collapse. The long-awaited recovery has failed to take wing.
[Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph]
Microsoft Corportaion (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer on reorganization — the full memo
Today, we are announcing a far-reaching realignment of the company that will enable us to innovate with greater speed, efficiency and capability in a fast changing world.
[Steve Ballmer, MarketWatch]
PM Jar Exclusive Interview With Howard Marks
“Investing is an art form. Take the hundred greatest painters, their paintings look nothing alike. The definition of great is not uniform.”
Bond mutual funds actually have bigger problems than bond ETFs Using the logic of ETF proponents
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the fact that bond ETFs can trade to large discounts during periods of market distress.
[Matt Hougan, Index Universe]
Hottest Links: Funny
Bored journalists camping outside hospital where Kate will give birth resort to interviewing each other
The journalists are bored. Some have been positioned outside St. Mary’s Hospital in west London for a full week now, waiting for signs that Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, is ready to deliver the baby
[Jennifer Fong, Postmedia News]
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed ‘asked to design’ vacuum cleaner
The alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, reportedly asked his CIA captors if he could design a vacuum cleaner.
Georgia to Ban Naked Drinking in Public and Other Uncommon Things
Be advised that drinking and getting naked in public may soon be strictly prohibited in Georgia, so adjust your plans accordingly.
