Salient to Investors: In March 2013, up to 79 percent of swaps must be backed by collateral and go through clearinghouses. Lloyd Blankfein at Goldman Sachs said clearinghouses could be the world’s biggest systemic threat. Supurna VedBrat at BlackRock said they are the new too-big-to-fail. JPMorgan is the biggest swaps dealer in the US with $72
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Hedge funds and private-equity firms are buying delinquent home loans sold by the FHA, paying an average of 36 cents on the dollar and a low of 26 cents. The FHA doesn’t have the legal authority to use workout tactics like principal forgiveness, and is not allowed to rent homes back to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Private-equity firms, struggling with slumping demand for IPOs are instead turning to private-to-private sales as a sluggish economic recovery saps demand for IPOs. Global IPOs fell in Q3 to the second-lowest level since the financial crisis. Private-equity returns are falling. Secondary deals don’t bring the payoffs from IPOs or sales to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The flood of foreclosures predicted by experts two years ago has failed to materialize. Instead, the number of properties for sale shrank to the fewest in a decade, prices appreciated at the fastest pace since 2005, and the gradual healing of the housing market helped boost consumer confidence
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Jeffrey Gundlach at DoubleLine Capital says: The first phase of the coming debacle was the 27-year buildup of corporate, personal and sovereign debt to 2008. The third phase will be deeply indebted countries and companies defaulting sometime after 2013. Buy gemstones, art and commercial real estate and other hard assets. Chinese
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The Archduke Joseph Diamond sold for $282,545 per carat, a record for a colorless stone. Geoffrey Munn at Wartski said the best diamonds have become extraordinarily valuable – there’s a scramble to buy jewels as a hedge. Munn said colored diamonds, which have set the highest auction prices, are rarer and more
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: John R. Talbott writes: Total costs of 2% per year in a fund earning a 3 percent real return is tantamount to giving Wall Street two-thirds of the profits. ETF’s that cost a half a percent to 1 percent per year can end up costing as much as one-third
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: The European Private Equity & Venture Capital Assn said European venture firms raised 50 percent more venture capital than in 2010. Lars Hinrichs at HackFwd said there are more angel investors than startups in London and Berlin – we have too much money in seed and late-stage investing.” Carlos Eduardo
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: So far in 2012, hedge funds’ gains are 1.1 percent, macro funds are down 1.3 percent, multi-strategy funds are down 7.1 percent, long-short equity funds are up 1.5 percent; versus 13 percent for equities worldwide, including dividends. Hedge Fund Research said hedge fund assets grew 3.6 percent to a record $2.19 trillion in
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: Wilshire Associates said US public pensions ended Q3 with a median gain of 4.67 percent as bond managers bought riskier debt and fixed-income securities with longer maturities. The median public pension was 55.5 percent in stocks, 25.7 percent in bonds, almost 3.7 percent in real estate, and 1.9 percent
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