Archive for September, 2009

• Wednesday links: free lunch facts
  abnormalreturns, September 30th, 2009 at 11:29 am, Comments: 0

  Looking back on just how bad things were in the stock market a year ago.  (Bespoke)
  No wonder insiders aren’t buying back their shares.  (The Pragmatic Capitalist)
  Can you still make a case for timberland as an asset class?  (Morningstar also SSRN)
  Fodder for the magazine cover indicator crowd.  (The Money Game)
  Since the beginning of 2008 high yield [...]

• Tuesday links: the risk culture
  abnormalreturns, September 29th, 2009 at 11:04 am, Comments: 0

  Is Salmon Brothers finally dead?  (WSJ)
  The Bloomberg Financial Conditions Index is back to normal.  (Trader’s Narrative)
  Heavily shorted stocks are leading the market.  (WSJ)
  SPACs are back.  (WSJ, Clusterstock)
  Signs that the risk culture is back.  (Abnormal Returns)
  Are fund managers getting stampeded back into equities?  (Rational Irrationality)
  Are mutual fund flows blowing a bubble in the bond market?  (Accrued [...]

• The risk culture returns
  abnormalreturns, September 29th, 2009 at 10:03 am, Comments: 0

  Just a year ago the Dow plunged 777 points in one day.  Who would have thought that a year later the risk culture would be back?
  The past week or so has seen any number of items demonstrating that confidence and risk-taking are back on Wall Street.  One can argue whether this is justified or not, [...]

• Monday links: fundamental design flaws
  abnormalreturns, September 28th, 2009 at 11:20 am, Comments: 0

  Earnings revisions are at a two-year high.  (Bespoke)
  Emerging market bond spreads have been halved YTD.  (EconomPic Data)
  Everyone thinks interest rates are going higher.  (Clusterstock)
  Checking in on some credit market indicators.  (Calculated Risk)
  Taking a look at the longer term cycles for the VIX.  (VIX and More)
  Research into the relationship between the dispersion in equity returns, the [...]

• Sunday links: plain vanilla plans
  abnormalreturns, September 27th, 2009 at 1:33 pm, Comments: 0

  “Rather than being anti-market, vanilla financial products would help correct very clear market failures that arise from imperfect information and high search costs. It is the status quo that is anti-market.”  (Interfluidity also Epicurean Dealmaker, Aleph Blog, Felix Salmon)
  “How much emerging markets [equities] should I have?”  (The Reformed Broker)
  The junkiest bonds (CCC-rated) have been bid [...]

• Friday links: rush into bonds
  abnormalreturns, September 25th, 2009 at 12:10 pm, Comments: 0

  “The big rush into bonds — especially high-quality, low-risk bonds such as Treasuries and government-guaranteed mortgage securities — may have created a situation in which most of today’s bond investors are bound to lose money.”  (Time also Trader’s Narrative, Money & Co.)
  In this environment changing bond benchmarks is trickier than it looks.  (Accrued Interest)
  Taking a [...]

• The myth of the all-weather portfolio
  abnormalreturns, September 24th, 2009 at 1:44 pm, Comments: 0

  For quite some time now financial advisers of all stripes have been in search of the elusive “all-weather portfolio.”  That is, an asset allocation that serves to protect investors in bad times (bear markets) and performs well in good times (bull markets).  Does an all-weather portfolio really exist?
  Prior to the economic crisis many would have [...]

• Thursday links: cheap to rich
  abnormalreturns, September 24th, 2009 at 11:14 am, Comments: 0

  Why aren’t individuals embracing equity mutual funds?  (Trader’s Narrative)
  Corporate bonds have gone from cheap to rich.  (EconomPic Data)
  Is the hot A123 Systems (AONE) IPO a sign of froth?  (Fund My Mutual Fund)
  A glut of new mortgage REITs are finding it tough going.  (Money & Co., Zero Hedge)
  “..the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) [...]

• Wednesday links: hunger for yield
  abnormalreturns, September 23rd, 2009 at 10:59 am, Comments: 0

  “The average Fed day has ourperformed the average day by about 7.5 times.”  (Quantifiable Edges)
  AIG (AIG) stock has become a playground for day traders and speculators.  (WSJ)
  How to create a synthetic short in AIG, or any other stock for that matter.  (Daily Options Report)
  “With the worst of the financial crisis now past, it’s time to [...]

• Tuesday links: high yield bond barrage
  abnormalreturns, September 22nd, 2009 at 11:45 am, Comments: 0

  The appetite for high yield bonds is “ridiculous.”  (The Money Game also Felix Salmon)
  Global market capitalization bounces back in a big way.  (Bespoke)
  Hedge funds raked in cash in August.  (FINalternatives)
  Is the investment management industry ripe for consolidation?  (Morningstar)
  On the rise of modular investment management.  (Abnormal Returns)
  Vanguard is switching to float-adjusted bond indices.  (Morningstar)
  The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies [...]