Stock Market News & Stocks to Watch from StraightStocks » Citadel Investment Group LLC

E-Trade’s Woes Far From Over – Zacks Tale of the Tape

Zacks Market Commentaries — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:47:26 +0000

Shares of E-Trade Financial Corp. (ETFC) added to their losses on Wednesday after the online discount brokerage said it would sell $400 million new common stock and swap $1.35 billion of debt for preferred shares.

While the move will help the beleaguered firm plug its capital holes following a government mandate, current shareholders remained discontented as their holdings would be diluted by nearly 40% through the stock sale and once more if the preferred shares are converted in future.

In a regulatory filing, E-Trade said both its capital-raising plans are being heavily backed by hedge fund giant Citadel Investment Group LLC which will buy either $50 million or $100 million shares and exchange up to $800 million in debt. Along with shoring up capital, the move would help E-Trade to eliminate interest payments related to debt.

The transaction could make Citadel a 50% owner of the New York-based financial firm's common stock. The hedge fund had already become its largest stakeholder in 2007 before the recession took a chunk out of E-Trade's mortgage-linked business.

E-Trade also forecast second-quarter loan-loss provisions of $375 million to $450 million and $375 million to $400 million in net charge-offs. Shares of the company were down more than 12% to $1.44 at noon on the NASDAQ.

"ETFC" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
Zacks Investment Research

New Bank Bailout Revives Some Policies That Triggered Crisis

Shah Gilani — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:50:00 +0000

TheTreasury Department'snbsp;new bailout plannbsp;would require participationnbsp;from private investors and would include government guarantees to limit losses. The details remain explained, but skepticism and fears of another crashnbsp;are running high.nbsp;For more information, read the following...div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.nuwireinvestor.com/~f/nuwireinvestor/altinv?a=H3iDezhx"img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/nuwireinvestor/altinv?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.nuwireinvestor.com/~f/nuwireinvestor/altinv?a=bNPbMwmK"img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/nuwireinvestor/altinv?d=43" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.nuwireinvestor.com/~f/nuwireinvestor/altinv?a=6p4BtZPC"img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/nuwireinvestor/altinv?i=6p4BtZPC" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.nuwireinvestor.com/~f/nuwireinvestor/altinv?a=GWAZNDw6"img src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~f/nuwireinvestor/altinv?i=GWAZNDw6" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/~r/nuwireinvestor/altinv/~4/-GeKW5rrDMw" height="1" width="1"/

The New Banking Bailout Plan Reconstitutes Some of the Same Ingredients That Touched Off the Financial Crisis

Shah Gilani — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:13:48 +0000

By Shah Gilani Contributing Editor Money Morning/The Money Map Report By relying on asset-backed securities, large amounts of leverage and unregulated hedge funds as its key elements, the U.S.... Money Morning is here to help investors profit han...

Hedge Fund Manager Updates | Tracker Profiles

Richard C. Wilson — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 21:57:00 +0000

h1 style="text-align: center;"bHedge Fund Managers/b/h1h2 style="text-align: center;"bspan class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"Hedge Fund Manager | Hedge Fund Notes/span/b/h2br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wM_OZdOMR_Y/ST1FIoBWyII/AAAAAAAACmY/OUbzph2qQfU/s1600-h/Hedge-Fund-Manager-News.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 104px; height: 104px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wM_OZdOMR_Y/ST1FIoBWyII/AAAAAAAACmY/OUbzph2qQfU/s200/Hedge-Fund-Manager-News.jpg" alt="Hedge Fund Managers News" title="Hedge Fund Managers News" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277450352832465026" border="0" //aOver the last 48 hours our team has updated the Hedge Fund Tracker Note profiles on 9 different hedge funds. These profiles include videos, articles, press releases and statistics which are publicly available on these funds.br /br /Here are links to these 9 updated tracker note posts:br /ullia alt="Citadel Investment Group LLC" title="Citadel Investment Group" description="Citadel Investment Group LLC ran by Kenneth Griffin" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/08/citadel-investment-group-llc-kenneth.html"Citadel Investment Group LLC/a/lilia alt="Hedge Fund Blogger.com: Acorn Capital Group | Hedge Fund Tracker Notes" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/12/acorn-capital-group-hedge-fund-tracker.html" title="Acorn Capital Group | Hedge Fund Tracker Notes"Acorn Capital Group/a/lilia alt="Fortress Investment Group LLC" title="Fortress Investment Group LLC" description="Fortress Investment Group LLC Hedge Funds" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/08/fortress-investment-group-llc.html"Fortress Investment Group LLC/a/lilia alt="Hedge Fund Blogger.com: Paulson Invesment Company | John Paulson | Hedge Fund Notes" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2006/10/paulson-invesment-company-john-paulson.html" title="Paulson Invesment Company | John Paulson | Hedge Fund Notes"Paulson Invesment Company/a/lilia alt="Hedge Fund Blogger.com: Bridgewater Capital | Ray Dalio | Hedge Fund Notes" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2006/10/bridgewater-capital-ray-dalio-hedge.html" title="Bridgewater Capital | Ray Dalio | Hedge Fund Notes"Bridgewater Capital/a/lilia alt="Hedge Fund Blogger.com: K2 Advisors | Fund of Hedge Fund Tracker Notes" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/12/k2-advisors-fund-of-hedge-fund-tracker.html" title="K2 Advisors | Fund of Hedge Fund Tracker Notes"K2 Advisors/a/lilia alt="Hedge Fund Blogger.com: Ellington Management | Hedge Fund Tracker Tool" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2004/11/ellington-management-hedge-fund-tracker.html" title="Ellington Management | Hedge Fund Tracker Tool"Ellington Management /a/lilia alt="Hedge Fund Blogger.com: Oxford Funding Corporation | Hedge Fund Tracking Notes" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/12/oxford-funding-corporation-hedge-fund.html" title="Oxford Funding Corporation | Hedge Fund Tracking Notes"Oxford Funding Corporation/a/lilia alt="Hedge Fund Blogger.com: Centaurus Energy | John Arnold | Hedge Fund Notes" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2006/10/centaurus-energy-john-arnold-hedge-fund.html" title="Centaurus Energy | John Arnold | Hedge Fund Notes"Centaurus Energy/a/li/ulbr /br /h4Related to Hedge Fund Manager Updates | Tracker Profiles/h4ullia alt="Hedge Fund Tracker Tool" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/08/hedge-fund-tracker-tool.html" title="Track over 1,000 Leading Hedge Funds"Hedge Fund Tracker Tool/a/lilia description="hedge fund marketing" alt="hedge fund marketing" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/03/hedge-fund-marketing.html" title="Sharpen Your Hedge Fund Marketing Skills"Fund Marketing and Sales Advice /a/lilia href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2007/12/100-hedge-funds-to-watch.html"Top Hedge Fund Managers/a/lilia href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/04/hedge-fund-videos.html"Free Online Hedge Fund Videos/a/lilia description="A collection of tools for hedge fund startups" alt="Hedge Fund Startup Tools" href="http://richard-wilson.blogspot.com/2008/09/hedge-fund-startup-tools-1-page-guide.html" title="Hedge Fund Startup Tools"Hedge Fund Startup Tools/a/li/ulTags: Hedge Fund Manager, Hedge Fund Manager News, Hedge Fund Manager Bios, Hedge Fund Tracking, Hedge Fund Tracking Articles, Articles on Hedge Fund Managers, hedge fundsdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/richard-wilson-blog?a=FoUYo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/richard-wilson-blog?i=FoUYo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/richard-wilson-blog?a=8XlCO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/richard-wilson-blog?i=8XlCO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/richard-wilson-blog?a=N9POo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/richard-wilson-blog?i=N9POo" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/richard-wilson-blog/~4/478895530" height="1" width="1"/

Hedge Fund Industry Pulse Check

Richard C. Wilson — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:07:23 +0000

Industry Pulse

Hedge Fund Industry Pulse Check

(http://HedgeFundBlogger.com) I was on the phone yesterday with a hedge fund investor who said he simply could not keep up with all of the news coming out on hedge funds without spending his whole work day tracking it. He wanted to know what to receive a series of updates within a single post.

Here is a collection of quotes on the current state of the hedge fund industry:

- Hedge-fund manager David Tepper entered the third quarter with $3.1 billion of U.S. stocks and exited with $648 million, selling most holdings to reduce risk and raise cash as carnage spread across the financial markets. “We moved a lot out early because we didn’t want to lose money,” said Tepper, 51, president of Appaloosa Management LP in Chatham, New Jersey. The firm, which switched some money to bonds, has between 30 percent and 40 percent of assets in cash.

- Regulatory filings last week by 38 hedge funds with more than $1 billion in assets each show that selling and market declines cut the value of their reported holdings by about 30 percent to $273 billion.

- At least 75 funds have liquidated or halted redemptions this year. With the Nov. 15 deadline for year-end withdrawal requests now past, fund managers may be forced to unload more stocks to pay off clients.

- Atticus Capital LP, based in New York, said its holdings declined to $510 million from $8.1 billion. In an Oct. 1 letter to investors, David Slager, 36, who manages the Atticus European Fund, told investors that more than 50 percent of his fund was in cash or U.S. Treasuries after he lost 43.5 percent year-to-date.

- At Tudor Investment Corp., the Greenwich, Connecticut, hedge-fund group founded by Paul Tudor Jones, 13F holdings fell to $453 million from $5.7 billion. Jones said markets face more selling from managers. “Our concern now is less over year-end fund redemptions, as record cash balances have already been raised in anticipation, but with prospective fund closures,” Jones, 54, said in an Oct. 31 report to his clients. “This latter event represents a tipping point at which a fund’s call on the market for liquidity goes non-linear.”

- SAC Capital Advisors, LLC of Stamford, Connecticut, said its holdings were $7.7 billion as of Sept. 30, down from $14.4 billion at June 30. Founder Steven Cohen, 52, had about half the firm’s assets in cash in mid-October, after his main fund fell 5 percent through September.

- Louis Bacon’s Moore Capital Management, LLC said the value of its 13F securities fell 69 percent to $1.4 billion, while at Jana Partners LLC, a firm overseen by Barry Rosenstein that makes activist investments, they fell to $2.1 billion from $5.9 billion.

- Jeffrey Vinik, who once ran the Fidelity Magellan Fund, disclosed that his Boston-based Vinik Asset Management LP held $1.8 billion at Sept. 30, down from $11.8 billion at June 30.

- “Movements in financial markets were so volatile, so unpredictable and so seemingly detached from fundamentals” that many hedge-fund managers “didn’t feel they had an edge,” said Doug Peta, an independent market strategist in New York. “The best thing they could do for their investors was to pull back entirely until markets returned to more of a sense of normalcy.”

- The largest funds, including those run by David Shaw, Kenneth Griffin and James Simons, reported smaller declines in their holdings. At Griffin’s Chicago-based Citadel Investment Group LLC, holdings listed on Citadel LP’s 13F fell 11 percent to $50.4 billion. Simons’s Renaissance Technologies LLC of East Setauket, New York, reported a 17 percent decline to $37.8 billion. At New York-based DE Shaw & Co., the filing showed a 20 percent decrease to $45.4 billion. Source

Related to Hedge Fund Industry Pulse | Not Good

Tags: Hedge Fund Industry Pulse, State of the Hedge Fund Industry, How are hedge funds performing, how are hedge funds doing, what is happening to hedge fund investments

Sky Investments | Hedge Fund Tracker Notes

Richard C. Wilson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:28:18 +0000

Sky Investments

Sky Investments | Hedge Fund Notes

Our team is still building this specific set of Hedge Fund Tracker Notes, for completed manager profiles please see our Hedge Fund Tracker Tool.

Related to: Sky Investments | Hedge Fund Notes

Tags: Sky Investments, Sky Hedge Fund, Sky Investments Hedge Fund, Connecticut Hedge Fund

The Hedge Fund Connection | Mark Cuban

Richard C. Wilson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:36:51 +0000

Hedge Fund Connection

The Hedge Fund Connection | Why They Work

Mark Cuban recently published a post on what is currently wrong with how hedge funds operate. In short he believes that hedge funds are not setup to benefit investors because they are paid on an annual basis where as investors are looking for long term 3, 5 and 7 year returns. to read his full post please click here.

Here is a quote from the article: "Those who give money to hedge funds rarely if ever have a 1 year investment term. In fact, the contracts for investment do everything possible to lock up your money for as long as possible. vs. Hedge Fund Managers pay themselves on an annual basis.

That is a huge disconnect and there in lies the rub. While it is true that the managers are paid on a performance basis (plus their 2pct of assets) and some even have clawback provisions, that is not enough. If a fund can get big enough, all they have to do is max out in a single year and the managers are set for life. They put hundreds of millions of dollars EACH in their pocket."

I disagree with his assessment on many levels. Here is why:

Hedge Funds align their interests with investors more closely than mutual funds and corporations. Hedge funds earn their large profits by taking a percentage of the profits generated for their investors. Why aren't CEOs, mutual fund managers and ETF managers compensated in this way? Why don't corporate CEOs have high water marks written into their compensation plans? I think that hedge funds are the answer to the broad misalignment of interests in the marketplace, not the problem.

Related to: The Hedge Fund Connection | Why Hedge Funds Make Sense

Tags: Mark Cuban, Hedge Fund Connection, Why Hedge Funds Work, Mark Cuban on Hedge Funds, Hedge Fund Blog Post by Mark Cuban, hedge funds, hedge fund, stock market, investments, stocks

Hedge Fund Testimonial Quotes | Congressional Hearing

Richard C. Wilson — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:04:52 +0000

Testimony Quotes

Congressional Hearing Quotes

Quick Links: Hedge Fund Testimonial Videos

Here are a series of quotes from yesterday's testimony.

``We do not need greater regulation of hedge funds,'' said Kenneth Griffin, founder of Citadel Investment Group LLC in Chicago. ``We've not seen hedge funds as a focal point of the carnage.''

Soros, founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, cautioned against ``ill-considered'' rules because this industry is reeling from market losses and client defections.

``I believe our tax situation is fair,'' Paulson said. ``If your constituents, whether a plumber or a teacher, bought a stock and if they held that stock for more than a year they would pay a long-term capital gains rate.''

``This isn't just about sophisticated, high-stakes investors anymore,'' Davis said. ``Institutional funds and public pensions now have a huge stake in hedge funds' promises of steady, above-market returns. That means public employees and middle-income senior citizens, not just Tom Wolfe's Masters of the Universe, lose money when hedge funds decline or collapse.''

Falcone, 46, said he supported more public disclosure and transparency. Investors ``have a right to know what assets companies have an interest in -- whether on or off their balance sheets -- and what those assets are really worth,'' he said.

Soros warned the committee against ``going overboard with regulation'' now that ``the bubble has now burst and hedge funds will be decimated.

``In our business, one of the most fundamental principles is alignment of our interests with those of our clients,'' said Paulson, who takes 20 percent of any gains. ``All of our funds have a 'high-water mark,' which means that if we lose money for our investors, we have to earn it back before we share in future profits.''

Additional Reactions:

Hedge-fund managers have had ``unimaginable success'' and, while being ``virtually unregulated,'' many enjoy special tax breaks, said Waxman, a California Democrat. Today's witnesses, he said, earned on average more than $1 billion last year, profits they were able in many cases to treat as capital gains rather than as ordinary income, which is taxed at a higher rate.

``I gotta tell you, that is a staggering amount of money,'' said Representative Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat. ``You are not taxed like ordinary citizens.''

Source

Articles Related to Hedge Fund Testimonial Quotes | Congressional Hearing:

Tags: Hedge Fund Testimony, Hedge Fund Testimonial, Congressional Hearings, Congressional Hearing on Hedge Funds, hedge fund managers testimony, soros falcone simmons

Citadel Investment Group | Hedge Funds

Richard C. Wilson — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:51:00 +0000

Citadel Group

Citadel Investment Group

Just a quick note to let you know we have updated the Hedge Fund Tracker Tool for Citadel Investment Group. You may view this updated manager profile here: Citadel Investment Group LLC.

Geographical Hedge Fund Guides Include:

Tags: Citadel Investment Group, Citadel, Citadel Hedge Fund, Citadel Hedge Funds, Citadel hedge Fund Manager

Citadel Group Hedge Fund Update

Richard C. Wilson — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:00:58 +0000

Citadel Group

Citadel Investment Group, Inc. | Update

Just a quick note that we have just updated Citadel Investment Group's Hedge Fund Tracker Tool profile with two additional updates

View the updated profile now by clicking on this link: Citadel Investment Group LLC.

Additional Reading Related to Kenneth Griffin's Citadel Group:

Tags: Citadel Group, Citadel Group Fund, Citadel Group Hedge Fund, Citadel Group New York, Citadel Group NYC, Citadel Group Fund of Hedge Fund, Hedge Fund Manager of Citadel

Avoid The Fallout From ‘Imploding’ Hedge Funds

Contrarian Profits — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:26:39 +0000

The wild market swings of late are most likely down to hedge funds says Keith Fitz-Gerald. These big money movers are liquidating assets to meet margin calls, causing chaos in the markets. Keith has four tips on how to dodge the worst of the damage.

He says it is essential to guard against today’s downside risks with trailing stops, inverse ETFs, and put options.

And every investor should have a plan to re-engage with the markets when this financial storm passes.

This from Money Morning:

As the worst financial crisis in recorded market history rocks Wall Street, millions of investors on Main Street keep asking a single question.

When will this end?

The market volatility is unprecedented: Where professional traders once ranked a day as “wild”…

Four Ways to Sidestep the Damage Wall Street’s Big Money Movers are Inflicting on Main Street

Keith Fitz-Gerald — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:00:22 +0000

By Keith Fitz-Gerald Investment Director Money Morning/The Money Map Report As the worst financial crisis in recorded market history rocks Wall Street, millions of investors on Main Street... Money Morning is here to help investors profit hands...

Citadel Investment Group | Hedge Fund Notes Updated

Richard C. Wilson — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 05:42:51 +0000

Citadel Investment Group

Citadel Investment Group | Hedge Fund Notes

Just a quick note to let you know we have updated the Hedge Fund Tracker profile for Citadel Investment Group, LLC.

To see the updated profile for this fund please see this page: Citadel Investment Group LLC

Related to Citadel Investment Group | Hedge Fund Notes Updated:

Tags: Citadel Investment Group, Citadel Investments, Citadel Investment Group LLC, Citadel Investment Group Hedge Fund, Citadel Hedge Fund, Citadel Investment Hedge Funds

Kenneth Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, Inc. Update

Richard C. Wilson — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:17:12 +0000

Kenneth Griffin

Citadel Investment Group, Inc. | Update

Just a quick note that we have just updated Citadel Investment Group's Hedge Fund Tracker Tool profile.

View the updated profile now by clicking on this link: Citadel Investment Group LLC.

Additional Reading Related to Kenneth Griffin's Citadel Group:

Tags: Ken Griffin, Kenneth Grifin, Keneth Grifin, Kenneth Griffin Hedge Fund, Kenneth Griffin Citadel Hedge Fund, Hedge Fund Manager Citadel Investment Group, New York

Hedge Fund Year To Date Returns | Top Managers D.E. Shaw SAC Paulson

Richard C. Wilson — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:01:28 +0000

Hedge Fund Returns

Hedge Fund Year to Date Returns

While these "year to date returns" are now slightly out of date here's a nice guest post by Market Folly on the performance of some of the more well known funds in the hedge fund industry:

Well, we recently got an update as to just how poorly hedge funds are performing year to date. Don't get me wrong, there are of course some standout performers. But, for the most part, they are taking it on the chin. Even some of the best and brightest in the game are right there with you. Hell, you're probably even outperforming some of these funds. Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, we get a look at many notable hedge fund's performance year to date.

The Standout Performers

$35 billion Paulson & Co: +18% ytd
$26.3 billion Brevan Howard: +16% ytd
$37.1 billion D.E. Shaw: +8% ytd
$30.9 billion Bridgewater Associates: +6% ytd
$33.3 billion Och-Ziff Capital: +0.5% ytd
$16 billion Winston Capital: +10% ytd
$10 billion Caxton Associates: +5% ytd
$17 billion Tudor Investment Corp: +3% ytd
$16 billion SAC Capital: +1.5% ytd

The Not-so Standout Performers

$49.3 billion Highbridge Capital /JP Morgan (Multistrat fund): -2% ytd
$33 billion Farallon Capital: -6% ytd
$23.7 billion GLG Partners: -14% ytd
$13 billion Eton Park Capital: -1% ytd
$19 billion Citadel Investment Group LLC: -6% ytd
$18 billion Lone Pine Capital: -8.5% ytd
$12.5 billion TPG-Axon: -11% ytd
$8 billion Cantillon Capital: -12% ytd
$15 billion Atticus Capital: -25% ytd

The Slightly Mixed Bag

$29.5 billion Renaissance Technologies: One of their funds is -1% ytd, while their signature Medallion fund is +40% ytd
$26.9 billion Goldman Sachs: One of their funds is -2% ytd, while their Global Alpha fund is +17% ytd

And, according to Hedge Fund Research, Inc., hedge funds are having their worst year since 1990 (when they started tracking). They show that the average hedge fund is -3.43% ytd compared to -12.65% in the S&P500 and +1.05% in the Lehman Bros Bond Index.

So, results all across the board. Interesting to note though, that Atticus Capital is down 25% year to date. Tim Barakett, the founder of Atticus, came out and denied those rumors. The reason for such a large decline is pretty easy to pinpoint. As I've written about before, their portfolio had very heavy exposure to the likes of Freeport McMoran (FCX), Mastercard (MA), and NYSE Euronext (NYX); all of which have really been beaten down badly as of late. So, the rumors of liquidation weren't completely illogical, seeing as how the fund is down big this year. But, I want to reiterate again that they have denied the rumors that they were liquidating.

On another note, the algorithm master Jim Simons and his Renaissance Technologies Medallion fund are up big this year; very big. That's all I can really say about that, seeing as his entire operation is one giant quant enigma. D.E. Shaw & Co, fellow quant masters, are doing decently, up 8% year to date in this horrid tape.

Lone Pine Capital, managed by Stephen Mandel, (whom I frequently cover here on the blog), isn't having the best of years, but isn't getting slaughtered like Atticus is. Lone Pine is down a little over 8% year to date.

The "Commodities Corp Offspring," Paul Tudor Jones and Bruce Kovner have been playing the commodities markets smartly with their macro funds it seems. Jones' Tudor Investment Corp is up 3% ytd, while Kovner's Caxton Associates is up 8% year to date. With the wild swings in the commodities markets claiming the life of the Ospraie fund, I'm sure Tudor Jones and Kovner are happy to turn a profit. This year has been one wild ride, to say the least.

And, lastly, John Paulson is still kicking ass and taking names; up 18% year to date. You'll remember that Paulson correctly pegged the subprime crisis last year and profited handsomely from it.

So, there you have it. See how you stack up against some of the most revered names in the game. Some are dominating, while others are getting dominated. Welcome to the bear market.

Source: WSJ

Guest Post by Market Folly

Free Daily Hedge Fund Newsletter

Related to:

Permanent Link: Hedge Fund Year to Date Returns

Tags: Year to Date Returns of Top Hedge Funds, Top Hedge Fund Manager Year to Date Returns, Hedge Fund Performance Returns to Date in New York

Pharos Fund Russian Hedge Fund

Richard C. Wilson — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:43:25 +0000

Pharos Fund

Pharos Financial Group - Hedge Funds

The following piece on Pharos Fund is being published as part of our daily effort to track hedge fund events in the industry. To review other hedge fund related announcements please see our Hedge Fund Tracker Tool.

___________________________________

The following is a list of resources and information that is publicly available about Pharas Fund.

Pharos fund portfolio.
Whitepaper on Pharos Fund. The White paper explains how the pharos fund manager makes decisions.
Every letter to all investors for 2008, from the Pharos Fund and Gas Fund.
Excel spreadsheet of every Pharos funds performance. So far, 2008 has a negative return on every fund.
Excel spreadsheet breakdown of Sector allocations for the pharos fund.
Excel spreadsheet breakdown of Sector allocations for the Gas fund. Pretty self-explanatory, the fund invests in options and futures in oil and natural gas.
Article about how there will be an increasing demand for natural gas.
Excel spreadsheet of Pharos small cap fund. The small cap fund uses Russia’s building economy and uses illiquid shares to make a profit.
Daily market comment and performance of all three funds. The Political Environment is fragile, which will create volatility in the market overall, which is good for each hedge fund.
Article about how all Pharos funds are down. The MSCI Russia Index is down 32.4% due to “a reversal of fortune from the market's earlier outperformance.”
The Georgia conflict severely hurt the Russian economy because investors pulled out more than $7 billion. Russian may not be allowed to host the next Olympics and the U.S. is restricting Visas for Russians.
Pharos said that the Russian economy is stable, but foreign investors insecurity will create short term-volatility.
Name of this article pretty much sums it up- “Pharos, TPG to acquire American Beacon Advisors for $480m.”
Interview with Peter Halloran. Eastern European (Russian affiliated) countries are rapidly growing faster than other developing nations.
Article about the government planning to increase domestic gas prices by 25-40 per cent, over the next three years.
A blog post that has a about positive outlook for every Pharos fund, for the month of June.
Article about how hurricane Gustav may increase gas to $5 a gallon. This may effect pharos gas fund.

Free Daily Hedge Fund Newsletter

Related to Pharos Fund:

Permanent Link: Pharos Fund

Tags: Pharos Fund, Pharos Hedge Fund, Pharos Gas Fund, Pharos Hedge Funds, Pharos Hedge Fund Russia, Russian Hedge Funds by Pharos, Hedge Fund managers Pharos Financial Group Funds

Fortress Investment Group LLC

Richard C. Wilson — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:29:54 +0000

Fortress Investment Group LLC

Fortress Investment Group LLC - Hedge Fund

The following piece on Fortress is being published as part of our daily effort to track hedge fund events in the industry. To review other hedge fund related announcements please see our Hedge Fund Tracker Tool.
___________________________________

Fortress Investment Group LLC, the manager of $18 billion in hedge funds, will open a fund to invest in the Middle East and North Africa as countries in the region seek to reduce their dependence on the oil industry.

The Fortress MENA Fund LP will be managed by Philippe Peress and is set to begin trading by the end of September, according to marketing documents, which didn't say how much money the company is seeking to raise. Peress, based in Geneva, has been a managing director and partner of the company's Drawbridge Global Macro funds since 2003.

``Historically MENA was characterized by low investment rates relative to Asian peers,'' New York-based Fortress said in the documents, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. ``This is beginning to change as governments use petro-dollars to diversify the economies away from oil.''

Middle East economies, benefiting from oil prices that tripled in the past five years, will expand 9.2 percent in 2008 as revenue spurs spending on infrastructure such as airports and power plants, New York-based Morgan Stanley has forecast. That's more than double the International Monetary Fund's 4.8 percent global growth projection. Read more...

Articles related to Fortress :

Permanent Link: Fortress Investment Group LLC

Tags: Fortress Investment Group LLC, Fortress Investment Group, Fortress MENA Fund LLP, Fortress Investment Group Hedge Fund, Fortress Investment Group Fund, Hedge Funds Managed by Fortress Investment Group, USA, London, New York City