Just as the incredibly horrible Paulson Plan bill passed the House of Representatives on Friday, equities markets tanked.  The reality of this Bill is setting in.  I started reading parts of the 400+ pages of this monstrosity and was forced to stop due to acute nausea.  It is nothing more than a gift to special [...]

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So how can you profit in the future given where we are at currently in this particular boom bust sequence?
In a prior post titled “I don’t trade stocks… I trade theories” I wrote the following:
“I don’t invest in financial securities, I invest in theories. At any particular present moment, the markets have embraced a certain [...]

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This is a convergence trading strategy that is designed to generate returns independent of what happens to the overall market.  It does this by attempting to neutralize all or most market directional risk (aka systematic risk or beta) as well as sector risk. With this strategy the focus is on

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The Fannie & Freddie bailouts will help with sentiment in the short run, much like the Bear Stearns bailout, as we will likely see a general rally in equities on Monday and for a few days after that. This short term correction (rally) against the long term trend may take some of the indices [...]

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Those in the financial press often write about a futures market that is “backwardated” or in “contango.” Very often, they get confused when explaining a market in light of these concepts, and believe it or not, this even confused Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Last February Bernanke basically said that the then backwardated term structure [...]

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Back in April, I wrote the following:
“Earnings are bad, inflation is bad, the credit crisis is bad…. But isn’t it always darkest before the dawn? Are stock market bottoms made when the news is the worst and things look bleakest? Yes and yes.
But how does one know when a bottom is in place? It’s very [...]

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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman Warren Buffett, who has used dozens of acquisitions to beat every major U.S. stock index, is poised to extend his lead with more than $40 billion to spend as the credit crunch sidetracks other bidders.
With the U.S. on the brink of recession, investors expect Buffett to deploy Berkshire’s cash to scoop [...]

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For a few short days in October 1987 the U.S. financial system came perilously close to completely collapsing. Dramatic shifts in the flow of capital between interrelated markets occurred as a sudden swing in expectations from optimism to pessimism among market participants overwhelmed the worlds financial systems. Panic selling led to a complete loss of [...]

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This strategy involves investing in the securities of a company that is or is expected to be in trouble. Some distressed securities can trade at large discounts to their actual risk adjusted basis. This is due to the psychological effect that occurs in the marketplace when a firm gets into trouble or files [...]

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It’s basically the “old style” hedge fund strategy, and many modern day hedge funds follow the equity long short or “equity hedge” strategy. But don’t let the name fool you… even though this strategy plays both long and short sides it should not

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