Back from the Beast

Like Jonah, I survived a stay Belly of the Beast, viz., Manhattan, New York City. At least the weather was balmy, but very, very windy. The Acela train is by far the best way to travel from Boston to NYC and back. The train was comfortable and on time, while the planes were delayed up to three hours due to the wind. And as usual, my ties received fine compliments from unknown beautiful women. New York fashion is still buried in black, so my colorful ties and fine suits stand out. Someone has to show a bit of life.

My bilingual blog efforts are paying off. I see my readership in France is growing [from FT]:

"France on Friday will press for tighter controls on hedge funds, urging other big industrialised nations to strengthen regulation of the industry and compel banks that lend them money to hold more capital.

"Paris wants the European Union, and eventually all leading economies, to beef up indirect regulation of hedge funds via their prime brokers, the banks which provide them with loans and other services.

"Under plans to be floated by Christine Lagarde, French finance minister, banks could face higher capital requirements to reflect the riskiness of their hedge fund clients, a proposal likely to be resisted by banks that are already struggling to raise capital."

France montre le chemin. [France shows the way.]

Good move. Obama, get moving on this. Hedge funds are the "root cause" of the financial crisis.

Here's news of more hedge fund skulduggery [from WSJ]:

"The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating whether several hedge funds traded improperly after being given advance notice by a research analyst of his negative report on a prominent insurer, people familiar with the agency's investigation said.

"The investigation comes amid a civil-court case brought by the insurer, Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. That case, filed in a New Jersey state court in 2006, unearthed documents indicating that executives at the hedge funds discussed the coming report of the analyst and made bets that the company's stock would decline.

"Companies routinely bar analysts from distributing reports to investors before publication to prevent the trading of nonpublic information. Analysts who give out information that isn't public but is market-moving and violates company policy can violate the securities laws. It also is improper for investors to trade using information that they know they've received improperly.

"In the civil suit, Toronto-based Fairfax alleged that the hedge funds, the analyst and his firm conspired to profit by driving down the company's stock, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The suit alleges that SAC Capital Advisors, Third Point LLC, Kynikos Associates LP and others acted together, paying the analyst, his investment firm and other defendants in the suit to spread false and defamatory information about Fairfax from 2002 through 2007."

The article provides considerable evidence from emails between SAC Capital Advisors and Kynikos. Sigh ...

This behavior of hedge funds should be no surprise to readers of this blog.

Why are these market Vikings allowed to continue raiding ?

Markets

From the reversal yesterday, it's clear that early weakness in stocks was caused by short selling hedge funds. They cover on any sign of strength or positive rumor. But in its absence, they are trying to break support levels to create more panic and fear.

Word of the Day

"Cathexis" - noun [$10] and "Cathect - verb, transitive [$10]
Cathexis means a concentration of emotional energy on an object or idea.
Cathect meansto concentrate emotional energy on (an object or idea).
Sentence: The American public has cathected upon Obama as the agent to improve their lives. Will he perform or flop ? Cathexis can dissipate quickly when weakness appears. He needs to show firm hand in dealing with the Pelosi et al whose sleaze shows no bounds.

Le Mot du Jour

"S'écrouler" - verb, pronomial; regular -er conjugation.
S'écrouler means to fall down, to collapse, to crumble.
La Phrase: L'adminstration Bush se sont écroulée par l'incompétence et les nombreuses erreurs.
Sentence: The Bush administration crumbled through incompetence and numerous errors.