Opalesque Exclusive: Hedge funds go long tech at Sohn... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Top tier hedge fund managers gathered in New York to give their best ideas at the Sohn Conference today. Overall managers seemed more confident about their picks than they have in previous years. Tech dominates Sohn bets Citing recent controversy,

Opalesque Roundtable: The invasion of marginal talent: Hedge funds and the investment counseling business of the late '60s, early '70s... [more]Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia: The evolution of the hedge fund industry has some interesting parallels to the development of the investment counseling business in the late '60s and early '70s, said Rick Doucette, CEO and CIO of Antecapio Investment Partners at the latest

Fintech startup uses blockchain to open up credit financing for small businesses... [more]Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia: A fintech startup is utilizing the powers of the blockchain to create new possibilities for small businesses. Blockchain-based credit finance manager INVioU said that the platform's services are globally offered

Sohn Conference Update - Hedge fund managers offer their top stock-market picks, Gundlach says buy oil producers, bet against Facebook, Tech hedge fund manager Palihapitiya says Box is his favorite A.I. stock idea... [more]Hedge fund managers offer their top stock-market picks From Marketwatch.com: It's time for the 23rd annual Sohn Investment Conference, with some of the world's most famous investors pitching their best ideas in a rapid-fire series of often market-moving presentations. This year's lineup

Abu Dhabi's Mubadala buys stake in U.S.-based hedge fund Phoenician Capital... [more]From Forbesmiddleeast.com: Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Investment Company has acquired a minority stake in Phoenician Capital, a New York-based hedge fund. The investment was made for an undisclosed amount by Mubadala Capital, the financial investment arm of the state-run company. The deal includes an agr

Hedge fund's gutsy bet on Fed hikes pays off with 20% gain... [more]From Bloomberg.com: A gutsy bet on Federal Reserve rate hikes propelled Kyle Shin's hedge fund to a 20 percent first-quarter gain, backing up last year's market-beating performance. More than half the gain at Shin's $467 million KS Asia Absolute Return Fund came from swap trades that profit as inves

Survey: February volatility spike prompts nearly half of investors to change their equity market outlook... [more]February's spike in volatility caused nearly half (42.1%) of investors to adjust their equity market outlook, according to the results of a survey published today by BarclayHedge and Markov Processes International (MPI). The BarclayHedge, MPI Volatility Angst Survey collected responses from 164 inve

Comment - Putting the 'hedge' back in 'hedge fund'... [more]From Bloomberg.com: Everyone knows the old chestnut that hedge funds are "a compensation scheme masquerading as an asset class," but arguably that underestimates the power of compensation schemes to transform asset classes. For instance, imagine a compensation scheme in which: You give me

Regulatory - Mifid II forces fund managers into sharp research cuts... [more]From FT.com: Asset managers have cut the number of investment banks and brokerages they use after a regulatory shake-up forced them to show how much they pay for research. Candriam, the €112bn European asset manager, has reduced the number of brokers it uses from 100 to 70 following the introdu

North America - John Paulson seeks big fees while risking his money, So you really want to bet on Bill Ackman?, Turnaround lagging, Vitamin Shoppe heeds hedge fund direction, Greenwich: the rich town on the frontline of US hedge fund fight... [more]John Paulson seeks big fees while risking his money After most of his clients have fled, billionaire John Paulson has embarked on a strategy to raise assets and generate big fees at the risk of losing his own capital. Paulson & Co. signed up last year with the three main providers of so-c

Europe - Some funds bet on quick rebound in Russia's sanctions-hit markets... [more]From Reuters.com: Less than two weeks after the latest round of U.S. sanctions plunged Russia's rouble to 16-month lows, some global funds have already stepped back in to buy rouble-denominated sovereign bonds and take advantage of the weaker currency. Early this month, Washington imposed ne

Commodities - Hedge fund oil bulls on the rampage as bears vanish... [more]From Reuters/Nasdaq.com: Hedge fund managers have never seemed so convinced that oil prices are set to rise rather than fall in the near term, according to the latest positioning data published by regulators and exchanges. Fund managers remain super-bullish even though benchmark Brent prices have al

Investing - As hedge funds pile in, BlackRock sees risk in Mexico election, Lampert's hedge fund eyeing Sears assets, Now hedge funds target asset stripper that bought GKN, Hedge fund billionaire explains why Amazon won't get into pharma, Hedge fund hikes stake in Carpetright ahead of vote on store closures... [more]As hedge funds pile in, BlackRock sees risk in Mexico election From Bloomberg.com: Talk to most foreign investors about Mexico these days and you'll likely to hear the same mantra: focus on Nafta now and worry about the upcoming presidential election later. After all, the election isn

Assured Guaranty faces short-selling attack by hedge fund Greenlight Capital... [more]From Insuranceerm.com: Assured Guaranty, one of the few US municipal bond insurers to have survived the financial crisis, is being shorted by Greenlight Capital, the hedge fund managed by billionaire David Einhorn. In a presentation delivered on 23 April to the Sohn Investment Conference, Einhorn re

Activist Investors - Coffee, property and telcos: Elliott's European bets in focus... [more]From Bloomberg.com: It's going to be a busy week for billionaire Paul Singer's Elliott Management Corp. as the spotlight turns on three of the activist hedge fund's European investments. Hammerson Plc, in which Elliott disclosed a stake on Friday, holds its annual general meeting on Tuesday, as does

News Briefs - How financial services professionals can secure VC funding for a fintech startup, 5 big features Amazon's home robot will likely have, Asteroid mining will produce the world's first trillionaire, according to Goldman Sachs... [more]How financial services professionals can secure VC funding for a fintech startup So, securing fintech funding is on your mind... Jumping into fintech with your years of banking or other financial services experience behind you? Got a solution or a great team to build up a project and con

...And Finally - Must be a very strong wind... [more]From Newsoftheweird.com: Fort Pierce, Florida, police pulled over a car on March 21 after observing it swerving down the roadway. As they approached, they smelled marijuana, and during the ensuing search, passenger Kennecia Posey, 26, was shocked -- shocked! -- when police found two bags in her purs