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“Okay, he either said, "move to the back of the throat," or he "wants a root beer float.”

- Dory, “Finding Nemo”

- Below: Don’t worry Dory, you may not speak whale but we’ve got you covered — but be careful, whale watching isn’t for everyone.

Robert Hum's Market Musings

• Stocks fade, close lower as Dow posts 9th loss over past 10 sessions
• S&P Tech Sector has 2nd ever 9-day losing streak
• Gold hits another 2012 low
• Crude oil settles below $94 for first time since mid-December
• U.S. Dollar Index rises for record 12th straight day

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Photo by Kerima Greene for CNBC.com

Perhaps the biggest story to come out of the Robin Hood Foundation charity gala in New York Monday night concerns what everyone wasn’t buzzing about.

Wall Street's top bankers and biggest hedge-fund managers talked about the trading losses at JPMorgan Chase

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[JPM  Loading...      ()   ]. They chatted about the ongoing debacle in Greece. They reacted to the jibes of comedian Seth Myers.

But they weren’t talking about Facebook.

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Bloomberg via Getty Images

Hedge fund managers on the other side of the trades that resulted in over $2 billion in losses at JPMorgan Chase are worried about reports that the Justice Department is investigating the matter, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Several hedge funds took up large trading positions in the credit derivatives market, after they came to believe a London-based trader at JPMorgan

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[JPM  Loading...      ()   ] had built up a position so large that it was distorting the market. London-based CQS and Blue Mountain Capital were two of the hedge funds on the other side of the JPMorgan trade, according to sources cited by Reuters.

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Photo by Jodi Gralnick for CNBC.com

Facebook’s payment network is its largest source of revenue after advertising. Primarily through selling credits for virtual goods for use in social games like Farmville, Facebook earned $557 million last year through its payments network.

What’s most surprising to a cynic like me is how honestly Facebook accounts for revenues from the payment network. There’s no accounting trickery going on in that $557 million figure.

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Source: Oaktreecapital.com

Fish don't fry in the kitchen;
Beans don't burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin',
Just to get up that hill.
Now we're up in the big leagues,
Gettin' our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it's you and me baby,
There ain't nothin wrong with that.

--“Movin' on Up", Janet DuBois

-Below Oaktree Capital

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[OAK  Loading...      ()   ] founder Howard Marks puts down $52.5 million for a 30 room Co-Op.

Robert Hum's Market Musings

• Poor start to week: stocks close at 3-month lows as Europe concerns linger
• Dow sees 8th triple-digit decline of the year
• No safe haven here: gold loses 2012 gains
• Crude oil slides to 5-month low
• U.S. Dollar Index up 11 straight days, seeks record 12-day winning streak on Tuesday

Plus: Did you miss out on that “half off Groupon

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[GRPN  Loading...      ()   ]?” Groupon closed at more than 50% off its $20 initial offering price on Friday ($9.90)… but that Friday deal has since expired. Shares jumped ahead of its earnings report today and then took another strong leg up after better-than-expected Q1 results. Trading near $14 after-hours, Groupon’s stock has soared nearly 40% from Friday’s close.

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Macduff Everton | Ironica | Getty Images

It looks increasingly likely that Greece will have to implement controls to prevent capital flight and a banking collapse. To my mind, the only real question is when this will occur.

The widespread talk about Greece possibly leaving the euro zone is likely to trigger withdrawal of bank deposits and other financial assets, by those who fear they might be redenominated into a drachma that would be worth far less than the euro.

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No problem.

No doubt about it. Subprime is back. Mortgage-backed securities are hot again.

Many of the hedge fund traders gathered at the Skybridge Alternatives investor summit (SALT) at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas are enthusiastically seeking out the once "toxic" mortgage bonds for their portfolios.

Even Kyle Bass, the Texan hedge fund manager who made billions shorting mortgage bonds in the years before the financial crisis, is bullish on mortgage credit.

The "worst" bonds, those not backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, could see gains of 15 percent, he said.

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CNBC.com

“Call me Jamie.”

-Tonight, JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon meets his Moby Dick as a “London whale” swallows $2 billion of JP Morgan's money.

Robert Hum's Market Musings

• Stocks fade into close, end mixed
• Dow snaps 6-day losing streak, but Nasdaq closes down for the 3rd straight day
• Weak outlook gives Cisco its worst day in 15 months. Falling over 10% today, the stock ends as the worst performer in the Dow Industrials, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100.
• S&P 500 Futures drop over 10 points after-hours following JPMorgan’s disclosure of a $2 billion trading loss

What Wall Street Is Talking About Tonight

JPMORGAN WOES SIGNAL TROUBLE FOR BANKS, MARKET: FAST PROS/CNBC.com – Lee Brodie: “In the wake of a stunning after hours announcement from JPMorgan

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[JPM  Loading...      ()   ], the Fast Money say you may need to re-evaluate everything… “This is the last thing the financials need,” says trader Steve Grasso. “It’s going to raise questions — not only at JPMorgan but across the entire industry,” adds Joe Terranova. “It makes me wonder if there are other portfolios that need to be marked to market. Money pros will ask, what is the impact? And how far does it extend? Who else holds what appears to be lousy paper?”

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Eva Serrabassa | Vetta | Getty Images

The Volcker Rule is driving talented traders to leave large, well-known Wall Street investment banks for hedge funds, Reservoir Capital founder Daniel Stern said at the Skybridge Alternatives (a.k.a., SALT) investor summit.

"I get a call a day from head-hunters looking to place talent," he said.

The Volcker Rule, part of the Dodd-Frank financial reforms, limits proprietary trading by investment banks.

"The best talent is coming to market within the next year," Stern said.

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AP

One of the more unexpected ideas to emerge from the Skybridge Alternatives investor summit (SALT) has been investing in bonds issued by the government of Portugal.

Portugal, of course, is a founding member of the PIIGS, the nasty acronym for Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain — the countries widely believed to have the biggest debt problems in Europe. (See: Sovereign Credit-Default Swaps)

So why go long Portuguese bonds?

"Portugal is not Greece. It's not Spain. We think it sneaks through this mess," one major hedge fund manager said (speaking on the condition of anonymity).

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The largest institutional investors in the world are increasingly looking for investments that generate positive "contractual" cash flows, as opposed to mark-to-market paper gains, according to both panelists and attendees at the Skybridge Alternatives Investor Summit.

Greg Zuckerman of the Wall Street Journal moderated a panel with the misleading title "A Balancing Act: Current Trends in Alternative Asset Allocation."

I say misleading because the phrase "balancing act" implies a tight rope walker carefully stepping forward.

But the panelists were not hesitantly tapping toes on a wire — they were very confident in their desire to move away from "global macro" and toward cash-flow-producing fixed-income investments.

"We're looking at strategies that throw off cash flow ... substantive gains," said Skybridge Capital managing partner Ray Nolte.

"We're trying to get away from macro and mark-to-market gains," Mark Okada, co-founder and chief investment officer of Highland Capital Management, L.P. said.

Getty Images

“Yahoo missed every important trend on the Internet: social, local, you name it.”

-Third Point Founder Daniel Loeb lobs more criticism Yahoo’s way.

Robert Hum's Market Musings

• Not again! — Another down day… Dow falls for 6th straight day for first time since August
• Stocks weak all day on European worries, but pare steep, early-morning declines
• Volume picks up — first back-to-back days of 4+ billion shares traded in nearly 2 months
• 10-year Treasury yield nears 1.82%, a 3-month low
• Natural gas rises to a 2-month high

What Wall Street Is Saying Tonight

CISCO’S EARNINGS LOOK GOOD, BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH/WSJ.com - Paul Vigna: "Cisco Systems

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[CSCO  Loading...      ()   ] shares are down in late trading after the company’s fiscal third-quarter earnings disappointed the Street. Earnings rose 20%, as Cisco’s margins and revenue both improved. But the numbers appear to be just a hair above Street consensus, perhaps disappointing investors looking for a more convincing “beat.”"

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Sometimes at NetNet we like to post music videos that we think make good metaphors for current market conditions.

Today, we're doing it a bit differently. Here's the video for Frank Turner's "If Ever I Stray." What we'd like you to do is take a jab at explaining why it fits current markets or global macroeconomic conditions.

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LdF | Vetta | Getty Images

Norway is dumping the debt of Europe's periphery, most likely because it fears the spread of the "Greek" solution.

Norway's sovereign debt wealth fund was one of the best known holdouts against the Greek debt swap. And now, it has sold all of its Irish and Portuguese government bonds, and reduced its holding of Spanish and Italian debt.

To add insult to injury, it is adding to its holdings in Brazil, Mexico and India. Take that, alleged "developed world!"

So what's going on here?

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Christian Thomas | Getty Images

My CNBC colleague Jeff Cox and I are off to spend the rest of the week in Las Vegas for the Skybridge Alternatives investor summit (SALT).

You'll hear about the talk on the conference panels, of course. But I'll also strive to report on the latest talk in the hallways and around the card tables.

And, of course, the poolside.

There will be frequent updates both here at NetNet and over on our dedicated SALT (that's what they call the conference) page.

I'll be sending out lots of updates on Twitter, as well.

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Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images The Parthenon, illuminated at night, sits at the top of Acropolis hill in Athens, Greece, on Monday, Feb. 13, 2012.

Earlier today, Alexis Tsipras—head of Greece's Syriza party (the one currently charged with forming a coalition government)—said that there should be a moratorium on Greek debt repayment.

The evil and stupid folks over at FT Alphaville* point out that most of Greece’s debt isn’t really due for repayment any time soon. The swapped debt in the private sector doesn’t come due until 2023. A moratorium on repaying that debt is a bit like telling a sleeping dog to lie down: the dog will do what you want, but it was already doing that anyway.

* (I don’t really regard FT Alphavillers as stupid or evil. I just wondered what it would feel like to sound like Paul Krugman. It feels awful. I’m sorry, lads and lasses. I take it all back.)

Greece could stiff the holders of foreign law bonds who didn’t convert into the new bonds. There are debt payments under these bonds coming due any day now. It could also stiff the IMF, which is due payment on funds provided under the “old” bailout sometime next year.

A more likely candidate, however, is probably the European Central Bank.

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