The latest Eurekahedge report says that regional mandates for the month of December 2015 produced quite mixed results. Asia ex-Japan managers yielded the best results, gains of 1.45%. Their Japanese counterparts produced 0.27%. In annual terms, Asia ex-Japan funds delivered 8.23% in 2015. Such funds saw an annual AUM growth of $10.7 billion. In the table below, all figures are stated in U.S. billions, and rounded off to one decimal place. Looking at performance by strategy, CTA/managed futures had a really lousy month, at the bottom of the heap in performance, losing more than $5 billion of their investors’ money due largely to the European...
After the Bank of Japan action… I have let things settle out and even though I am short an investment bank, a bank index and a Semi equipment company, I am positive on the day. That is not to minimize the fact that today would be much nicer had I held SPY and GOOGL, but it is what it is. Not bad. Going right into Kuroda’s wheel house I purchased a stock that just yesterday I noted as being a formerly over hyped (though high quality) Machine Tool company pitched by financial suits as a Robotics company… A Prime Machine Tool Builder w/ a Hyped Twist Falls Flat in Q4 Fanuc got hammered again today and considering BoJ’s stance on the ...
“The paradox of Norway’s oil exports is that lower foreign earnings translate into more, not less, demand for NOK.” That’s from Deutsche Bank and it sums up the conundrum facing Norwegian officials as they attempt to cope with the sharp decline in crude prices that threatens to cripple the country’s economy. Norway’s prime minister, finance minister and central bank governor held an extraordinary meeting last week to discuss the possibility of implementing emergency measures to shore up the economy in addition to record fiscal stimulus. It’s “not a crisis,” they concluded, an assessment that’s sharply at odds with comment...
On Monday, one of the first Regulation A+ deals will successfully close. Elio Motors says it’s raised about $16 million so far on StartEngine.com. Thousands, probably tens of thousands, of investors have participated. Elio had hoped to raise up to $25 million in the offering, which ends February 1. But it’s not bad for one of the first deals ever. For those of you who missed my initial coverage of Elio back in October, here’s a summary. Elio is building a three-wheeled vehicle designed to get 84 mpg and cost $6,800. Ambitious, I know. Here’s a picture: Note for new readers: Regulation A+ fundraises have been referred to as an “IPO-...
The purpose of the capital markets is to allocate capital to its most efficient use. Research on economies around the world shows that functioning capital markets are positively correlated with economic growth. The more liquid and efficient the stock market is, the more the entire economy thrives. Since capital markets exist to maximize allocative efficiency, we would expect the agents of capital—corporate executives—to focus on that goal. Yet, we know they do not. There are simply too many disincentives, such as huge bonuses tied to performance metrics that do not resemble shareholder value creation, including GAAP earnings Reported ca...
The U.S. economy grew at a weak annualized growth rate at 0.7%, just below expectations, but perhaps it could have been worse after yesterday’s data. Core PCE is 1.2% as expected while the wide PCE is a miss with only 0.1%. The GDP deflator came out at 0.8% as predicted. Markets aren’t moving that much in the immediate aftermath. The internals of the GDP report are not so bad: inventories weigh.and they could be replenished in Q1 2016. Personal consumption is 2.2% against 1.8%. Here is the EUR/USD chart: The first release of US GDP for Q4 2015 was expected (see full EUR/USD preview) to show a poor annualized growth rate of 0.8%, belo...
Crude has made a slight bounce, but it need desperately to close above $32.35 yesterday just to pause. There is no change of a real reversal in trend here. Crude would need to close above the $38.35 area. Our timing targets are still pointing to this week/New Week. If this turns out to be a reaction high, then a rout to the downside may yet be in the cards. We have a Monthly Bearish coming into play at $36.65, $35.13, $33.30 and a key one at $30.10 followed by $28.25. So we would have to close above $36.65 to avoid a sell signal....
With operations in more than 180 countries, Xerox Corporation (XRX – Analyst Report) is a leader in the development, manufacture, marketing, servicing and financing of document equipment globally. Headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut, this century-old firm has helped organizations transform the way they manage their business processes and information. XRX has beaten earnings estimates in two of the last four quarters, making for an average positive surprise of 3.9%. However, quite like its peers in the document industry, XRX is increasingly grappling with decreased demand for paper-related systems and products. With rising competit...
Written by Jill Mislinski The Advance Estimate for Q4 GDP, to one decimal, came in at 0.7 percent, down from the 2.0 percent for the Q3 Third Estimate. Today’s number was on par with most mainstream estimates, with Investing.com forecasting 0.8 percent and Briefing.com forecasting 0.7 percent. Here is an excerpt from the Bureau of Economic Analysis news release: Real gross domestic product — the value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production, adjusted for price changes — increased at an annual rate of 0.7 percent in the fourth quarter of ...
From the beginning of the year there has been some anti-synchronisation between gold and the dollar, which usually have a strong negative correlation: as the dollar rises, the general rule is that gold falls and vice-versa. However, since the beginning of the year, the DXY and gold have developed a positive correlation by both being in upward channels. Although, if we take a shorter time frame on the graph, we can this golden dollar rule not being broken; since the start of this week, a rise in gold has meant a fall for the dollar. The DXY dollar index is in a horizontal channel between 98.17 and 99.80. The range is an upward heading one, ins...