Closed end funds: Fund structure mitigates investor risk Suitable for arbitrage strategies Suitable for relative value strategies Suitable for distressed and private equity strategies Lends itself to efficient and risk controlled deployment of leverage Technically complex strategies which rely on multiple trade legs Distressed investing: Current cycle is attractive for distressed investing Distressed assets and

An opportunity exists today for a long only buy and hold strategy. The strategy is vulnerable to further mark to market losses but a strategy of investing in CBs from a credit point of view, as opposed to an equity arbitrage point of view yields interesting opportunities. Things could get cheaper next year, and indeed

Commodity prices are overly depressed. See post 27 Nov 2008, A Quick Macro Overview. Buy AUD, sell USD. 

Why is it a bad thing for a central planner to allocate resources in an economy? The Soviet experience is one example. Underlying it is the lack of alignment of interest between principal and agent. If one does not reap the benefits of one’s investment decisions, those decisions are bound to be less than optimal.

Economic data is pointing towards a global recession deepening in 2009. The scale of the slowdown in economic activity, the damage done to the banking system, the losses accumulated in residential real estate and the impairment of household balance sheets call for extraordinary policy measures. A more or less global though not entirely concerted policy