FINTAG COMMENT
Conferences.
This time 2 years ago, the conference sector was booming. The likes of Marcus Evans and Terrapin enjoyed the fruits of over charging the “people who like people” to visit out of town hotels with stained carpets and vile tasting mints listening to supposed experts talking about important matters of the day when in fact they were selling their own firms.
I have been to a few, but very few in the last year. Today I am off to a secret seminar, a bit like the #climatecamp, where some senior hedgies are going to talk about how we continue trading in the UK but actually reside in Switzerland to avoid the high tax and regulation. There will be no journalists or interns on a jolly. [Editor: So you are going to the pub will a few of your mates then?]
Whilst all our shorts have been closed out and we sit on financials and any company that services the financial industry, the news today covers more Goldman Sachs bashing, Ex Lehman employees putting in hundreds of millions of dollars in back pay claims, Japan full of ex investment bankers driving taxis and more analysis on the parallels with the Great Depression W.
OBAMA’S SPENDING SPREE, BUDGET NUMBERS “HAVE ALL GONE MAD,” ANALYST SAYS
Fintag says
When analysts start getting confused then you know we are in trouble. I have to say, surfing this wave is fun but the crash is in sight and probably 16th September it will get tricky before some real volatility in October and November.
barrons says ” How the Current Recession Stacks Up “
financial times says ” UK business spending weakest in 43 years “
SPOTIFY APP APPROVED FOR IPHONE
The company submitted the application to Apple’s iTunes App Store for its approval in July.
The application will be free, but will require the user to have a premium Spotify subscription, which costs £10.
Fintag says
As you know I was one of the first advocates of Spotify and again proven right that this iTunes killer is on the right tracks. My hedgie for musics playlist is very comprehensive. Please take a look and add any more hedge fund inspired tracks.
spotify says ” enjoy fintag’s playlist “
GOLDMAN SACHS: A “HUDDLE” IS NOT A FORUM FOR SHARING STOCK OR SECTOR “TIPS.”
Fintag says
I thought this was a joke. Ha!
CRUDE OIL PRICES REBOUND
Oil reversed two days of losses, as buoyant US equities were seen as a barometer of future energy demand.
The commerce department reported the US economy shrank less than expected in the second quarter, aiding sentiment.
Fintag says
So there is a correlation between stock market optimism and the oil price. Bizarre.
FORMER LEHMAN EXEC CLAIMS $233M IN DEFERRED COMP
The newspaper also reports that Dan Sontag, the former head of Merrill Lynch’s brokerage unit, only learnt about the appointment of Sallie Krawcheck (who was coming in over his head) just a few minutes before Bank of America publicly announced it.
Fintag says
Well it is worth a try, isn’t it?
ADMINISTRATOR GLOBEOP SETTLED MISPRICING CLAIM
GlobeOp agreed to pay Regents Park Capital Management, which imploded in 2006, US$43.5 million to put to rest Regents Park’s claims about GlobeOp’s calculation of the funds’ value and “the impact on that of mispriced position values provided by a principal of the hedge fund’s investment manager,” the administrator said in a statement. By making a deal, GlobeOp avoids going to arbitration with Regents Park, which was seeking US$109 million in damages.
Fintag says
Wow that was a big claim for Global Cockup’s cockup.
JAPAN UNEMPLOYMENT HITS NEW HIGH
Companies are continuing to lay off workers even though the economy has returned to growth after the most bruising recession for decades.
The state of Japan’s economy is the key issue in the election campaign.
Opinion polls show the Liberal Democratic Party, which has governed for 53 of the last 54 years, faces defeat in the election.
Fintag says
Amazing that despite Japan’s volatile economic record they have had the same governement in power for over 50 years. Time for a change meez thinks. If the children are rebelling and getting fat then the country needs to change.
SEC DROPS ACTION AGAINST AMARANTH
Fintag says
I just don’t get it. Amaranth put all its eggs in one basket and collapsed. Billions were lost and the SEC drops the case. 3 years of legal fees and all for nothing.
HOW GOLDMAN SACHS’ PROBLEMS ARE HURTING YOU
I’ve suspected that this Wall Street firm has been acting, in essence, as an arm of the government. And I am also pretty sure that if Goldman and Washington have something secret going on, the investment firm isn’t doing it for altruistic reasons. There’s money to be made.
In 2007 I reported in this column that Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson let the cat out of the bag when he confessed on a cable TV show that it was “my job to talk regularly to market participants . . .”
Paulson had been the chairman of Goldman right before taking the job as head of Treasury.
Fintag says
This time last year it was AIG employees. Now it is Goldman Sachs employees who are the new axis of evil.
But surely with the latest rally off the March lows, bearish Davidowitz is more bullish, right? Not a chance. Look at your financial history books.
Two of the biggest rallies of more than 40 percent occurred during the Great Depression, says Davidowitz of Davidowitz & Associates,a retail consulting and investment banking firm. “People were sucked in and ultimately were destroyed,” he says. It’s a warning to today’s investors, who are hoping to extend the rally.
Don’t get Davidowitz started on the economy or fundamentals. “Barack Obama’s numbers have all gone mad,” Davidowitz says. The Obama administration recently announced the U.S. budget deficit will be $9 trillion during the next decade; $2 trillion higher than the original forecast.