If there were ever a deep lagging indicator, it is a downgrade by a ratings agency. While the housing market peaked in 2006, these despised institutions didn’t get around to marking paper down from triple “A” to junk until four years later. Then in August, 2011, Standard and Poor’s downgraded U.S. Treasury bonds. After that, [...]

You are all well aware of my love affair with the Chinese Yuan (CYB), which I expect to appreciate substantially in coming years off the back of China’s continuing economic miracle. Bill Ackman, of Pershing Square Capital Management fame, has come up with his own variation, that of piling on a leveraged long in the [...]

The dinosaur bone market has crunched. Once a favorite collectible of high-flying hedge fund managers, the prices of everything from tyrannosaurus rex to brontosaurus fossils have skidded. A recent auction of a triceratops skeleton failed to reach its minimum bid of $1 million. Even prices for fossilized dinosaur excrement, a popular niche market, have gone [...]

“China is the classic emerging market roach motel, except it’s a really big one. It is very difficult to earn adequate returns on capital and to get your capital back as a westerner,” said Jim Chanos of hedge fund Kynikos Associates.  

Thank you so much for the newsletter you sent out – I really enjoyed reading it. You’ve got quite a unique and engaging style as a writer, world traveler/lecturer and of course, trader. I’m glad to see your performance numbers catapulted you to the top percentile of the hedge fund ranks – all the best [...]