Federal government will sell low percentage of G.M. stock in order to fetch highest price. (New York Times) Analysts seem to find consensus that it will take years for gov’t to recoup its $43 billion investment.
NetNet With John Carney
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What Warren Buffett once called "financial weapons of mass destruction" are firing again, with securitization and shadow banking at post-crisis highs.
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Hedge Fund King David Tepper Explains His Consistent Inconsistency
Posted By: Maneet Ahuja
Though very few hedge funds on the Street can claim to compare to the 17-year track record of David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management, LP, the only thing that is consistent about the performance of the fund is that it is, well, inconsistent.
“We’re consistently inconsistent”, the legendary billionaire investor says over a lunch of spicy tuna rolls and salad at his office in Short Hills, NJ, earlier this week. “It’s one of the cornerstones of our success.”
Inconsistent maybe. Incredible, certainly. Last year, Tepper’s flagship Appaloosa fund returned an eye-popping 132.7%, net of fees, after grossing $7.5 billion by betting on financials early on, more than any other hedge fund firm last year. Through July of this year, the fund is up almost 42% on a net trailing annulized basis, according to performance documents from an investor.
When Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, investors panicked on Wall Street, causing dangerous aftershocks across the markets. And while most of Appaloosa’s peers were desperately trying to mitigate losses and stave off redemption requests amidst the market’s free fall, Tepper decided it was the perfect time to leap right into the eye of the storm.
PIIGS Still Pigs
Posted By: Ash Bennington
Buffett: "We're still in a recession" (Reuters)
The next time your annoying coworker defines a recession as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth, tell him Warren Buffet thinks he’s an idiot.
PIIGS still pigs (Yahoo) Ireland’s GDP report increases concerns for Europe’s most indebted nations.
The next time someone offers to sell your nana corporate paper with a 9% YTM... \(BusinessWeek\) You have my permission to sock them.
Hedge Fund Manager Phil Falcone Talks Satellite Broadband with Forbes Magazine
Posted By: Ash Bennington
Phil Falcone has$9 billion and ambitious plans to build a next generation mobile broadband network using satellites and a network of unbuilt terrestrial towers — but can he pull it off?
Correlation: Two Other Smart Guys Weigh In
Posted By: Jeff Cox
Apparently, my report last week about the elevated level of market correlation and the corresponding havoc it was wreaking on portfolios touched a nerve or raised an eyebrow or maybe just twitched a muscle.
The story ran Friday, spanning a convulsion-inducing \(at least among ‘Net editors\) 1,465 words in describing how closely virtually all the financial market asset classes were running together, and how difficult that makes it to hedge and keep portfolios diversified.
I’m not sure how many readers stayed with me the whole way, but some analysts must have liked it.
Two pretty good ones quickly followed up Monday with analyses of their own about correlation and how much of a problem it poses for investors.
In a piece titled, “Are Elevated Correlations Part of the New Normal?” Standard & Poor’s chief equity strategist Sam Stovall crunched some numbers to take a pretty insider-ish view of all things correlation.
Oliver Stone: They Are All Sharks
Posted By: Maneet Ahuja
To kick off the NY premiere of the much-awaited Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps , the cast of the film gathered to ring the opening bell Monday morning at the Nasdaq.
20th Century Fox
Having helped with the movie a bit behind the scenes, I thought I'd head over to the floor to say hi to the gang while conducting a bit of business for "Squawk Box." At the NASDAQ I pulled Director Oliver Stone aside and asked him how he assembled his cast of real-world market movers to secure the script stick to reality as much as possible.
"We talked to at least 30 or 40 people, we went everywhere. The producers, the actors, we all knew various people. I think one of the most earliest helpful figures was Eliot Spitzer actually because he investigated AIG and he knew a lot about Goldman Sachs so he could tell us where to look. And we went to Jim and he was brilliant," Stone said.
Jim, of course, is James Chanos, the head of the $6.7 billion hedge fund Kynikos Associates, who happened to be guest-hosting "Squawk Box" that day. Chanos served as one of the main technical consultants on the film, helping to ensure the story line was representative of what was actually happening out there on the short (and long) sides of markets during the financial crisis.
Geithner Is Toast After Midterm Elections
Posted By: John Carney
Tim Geithner will probably be tossed out of the Obama administration following the midterm elections.
Nicole Lapin's Short & Long List
Posted By: Nicole Lapin
Nicole Lapin, of CNBC's Worldwide Exchange, explains what she's long and what she's short this week.
Merrill Lynch Alums Put LBO Plans On Hold
Posted By: John Carney
Former Merrill Lynch executives have put plans to buy their old firm on hold, according to people familiar with the matter.
“Contract with America” Redux?
Posted By: Ash Bennington
Jobless Jump. New Claims Rise; Last Week’s Numbers Revised Slightly Downward(CNBC)
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