Brexit and Derivatives: Allen & Overyâs Views
A decision by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union could be a bad thing for the derivatives markets. But from a legal standpoint there isnât a lot that can be done about it in advance, and...
View ArticleConvertibles as a Risk Management Tool in Emerging Markets Portfolios
By Nick Niziolek, CFA In a recent post titled The Convertible Bond Trifecta, my colleague Scott Henderson outlined several market factors that appear supportive of convertible bonds after the...
View ArticleThe SEC: Still Fiddling with a 1940 Era CarburetorÂ
Steven A. Keen of Perkins Coie has posted an insightful discussion of section 18 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, and of the pending proposed regulation under that mandate, Rule 18f-4, on one of...
View ArticleDry Bulk Shipping Recovery: Three Causes
The value of the equity of Star Bulk (SBLK) has risen since the start of the year from $0.616 to just above an even dollar per share. Â This is part of a broader trend. The dry bulk shipping industry,...
View ArticleEscape to the Internet? Or Build Better Communities?
Dissatisfaction with the fiat money issued by or on signals from central bankers will not go away. Talk of âprinting pressâ money seems quaint, as when people of my generation still refer to a...
View ArticleTrust Isnât Just a Nice Warm Feeling
Ross Levine, professor of finance at the University of California, Berkeley, and two scholars from Hong Kong (Professors Chen Lin and Wensi Xie) have published a study of corporate resilience in the...
View ArticleGlobal Focus Capital: Marketâs Inflationary Expectations Are Too Low
Investors can get ahead of events by aligning their portfolios to âa world of lower expected capital market returns and higher forward volatility.â That, at any rate, is the upshot of a thoughtful...
View ArticleWrangling the Unicorns:Â Yale celebrates their VC heroes
Yale, in their 2015 annual report issued this month has broken out their private equity allocation into two distinct segments: Leveraged Buyouts and Venture Capital.  See: This is the first time in...
View Article10 Phrases To Jettison From Every Marketing Pitch
By Diane Harrison Spring is typically filled with tailored events for investors and managers to engage, learn about industry happenings and market views, and find investment opportunities with each...
View ArticleThe Alberta Approach to Benchmarking & Performance Attribution
The Alberta Management Investment Corp. began life in 2008, as a successor to a division of Alberta Finance. It became a crown corporation in order to better manage the allocation of assets for...
View ArticleCredit Derivatives in China: A 2014 Presentation Recalled
The Peopleâs Bank of China launched two seemingly important products in 2010: the Credit Risk Mitigation Agreement and the Credit Risk Mitigation Warrant. I refer to them as âseeminglyâ important...
View ArticlePlatts Windows and Cash Settlements
The âPlatts window,â a metaphorical structure named after the influential provider of benchmark price assessments in various energy markets, consists of the final few minutes of trading, the period...
View ArticleTricky Times for Hedge Funds and a Lot of Negative YTD Performances
A slim majority of hedge fund managers are in the red year to date, through April, according to the latest report from Eurekahedge. Specifically, 51.4% of managers have negative YTD performance. Over...
View ArticleBest Practices for Private Equity Sponsors in an Age of Increasing Scrutiny
By John Czapla, Parag Patel and Shane Newell, Valuation Research Corporation As the demand for transparency rises for private equity and hedge funds, the spotlight is increasingly focusing on valuation...
View ArticleA Review of the Commodity Index/Global Hunger Controversy
The consensus in market scholarship seems to be not only that âstill waters run deepâ but that deep waters run still. The greater the depth of volume in a commodity, the lesser the volatility of...
View ArticleHedge Funds are Still Relevant in a Diversified Portfolio: 4 Fundamental...
By Appomattox Advisory, Inc. The discussion has revived again:  are hedge funds still relevant in a diversified portfolio? We believe that a thoughtful allocation to hedge funds continues to be an...
View ArticleInvestors âMisoverestimateâ ETFs and a Push Towards ESG
In a newly released report, Natixis Global Asset Management speaks to the quite positive views of passive investment vehicles and exchange traded funds that it finds in todayâs marketplace. Â Their...
View ArticlePuerto Rico and Bankruptcy
The bankruptcies of public bond-issuing entities, such as Orange County, Calif.; Jefferson County, Ala.; and the City of Detroit, Mich. are still rare events, but they exert a lot of influence, in part...
View ArticleConsequences of the Paris Climate Agreement
In early December 2015, representatives of 196 parties met in Paris, France, to discuss climate change, and the necessary reduction of greenhouse gas emissions on a global basis. Â The result, the...
View ArticleThe Case Against a Bearish Argument on Crude Oil
A recent Bloomberg story indicates that in a world  awash in cheap crude oil, traders are now storing the stuff at a loss, at sea, on board vessels in the Straits of Malacca. Further, they are going...
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