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今天的主题是hedge fund，希望大家喜欢。
Part I: Speaker
Article 1:
Feds: Hedge Fund Benefited From Insider Trading
[Dialog, 2 min 6 sec]
Source: NPR
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/21/165629954/feds-hedge-fund-benefited-from-insider-trading
Part II: Speed Article 2: Hedge Fund
[Time 2]
A hedge fund is a collective investment scheme, often structured as a limited partnership, that invests private capital speculatively to maximize capital appreciation. Hedge funds tend to invest in a diverse range of markets, investment instruments, and strategies; today the term "hedge fund" refers more to the structure of the investment vehicle than the investment techniques. Though they are privately owned and operated, hedge funds are subject to the regulatory restrictions of their respective countries. U.S. regulations, for example, limit hedge fund participation to certain classes of investors and also limit the total number of investors allowed in the fund.
Hedge funds are often open-ended and allow additions or withdrawals by their investors. A hedge fund's value is calculated as a share of the fund's net asset value, meaning that increases and decreases in the value of the fund's investment assets (and fund expenses) are directly reflected in the amount an investor can later withdraw.
Most hedge fund investment strategies aim to achieve a positive return on investment regardless of whether markets are rising or falling ("absolute return"). Hedge fund managers typically invest money of their own in the fund they manage, which serves to align their own interests with those of the investors in the fund. A hedge fund typically pays its investment manager an annual management fee, which is a percentage of the assets of the fund, and a performance fee if the fund's net asset value increases during the year. Some hedge funds have several billion dollars of assets under management (AUM). As of 2009, hedge funds represented 1.1% of the total funds and assets held by financial institutions. As of June 2013, the estimated size of the global hedge fund industry was US$2.4 trillion.
Because hedge funds are not sold to the general public or retail investors, the funds and their managers have historically been exempt from some of the regulation that governs other funds and investment managers with regard to how the fund may be structured and how strategies and techniques are employed. Regulations passed in the United States and Europe after the 2008 credit crisis were intended to increase government oversight of hedge funds and eliminate certain regulatory gaps.
【365】
Source: Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_fund
Article 3: How Anyone Can Invest Like Hedge Funds -- Only With Lower Fees And Risk
[Time 3]
"Rich guys have all the fun," said my friend after reading several hedge fund prospectuses.
He added that he would love to diversify his stock portfolio with alternative investments, but the best hedge funds typically require a million-dollar minimum investment and the investor to be accredited.
It's just not my friend. Even most accredited investors can't afford to plunge a million or more into a hedge fund and hope for the best. Most individual hedge fund investors are in the ultra-high net worth class. For them, a million dollars in a hedge fund merely represents the diversification of a portfolio rather than the majority of its investable assets.
What Are Hedge Funds?
Hedge funds are loosely regulated private investment partnerships that invest in a wide variety of strategies. These strategies can include derivatives, long and short positions, commodities, currencies and just about any other investment strategy that can be imagined.
This wide diversification choice is what gives hedge funds their edge over more traditional investments. In addition, because they're subject to less regulation and oversight than other forms of funds permits hedge funds can quickly alter course in search of profits. Furthermore, their ability to use leverage and invest in exotic products increases their appeal among ultra high net worth investors.
However, it's critical to remember that leverage, managerial freedom and exotic products can work against you as easily as for you. Just because it's a hedge fund, the profits are no way guaranteed.
As an example, my old firm was invested in five different hedge fund partnerships. Out of the five, three lost money over the year, one broke even, and one made huge gains, saving the firm and its investors. Had we not been invested in the one large winner, it would have been a financial disaster.
In my mind, this experience solidified the need for diversification, regardless of one's confidence in a particular investment or manager.
【319】
[Time 4]
Play In The Hedge Fund's Exclusive Sandbox
I explained to my friend that there is a solution to his dilemma. Now every investor can take advantage of hedge fund tactics and profits.
Known as alternative mutual funds, these funds attempt to mimic hedge fund strategies -- only without the very high fees and often lofty structural risk that are part and parcel with private hedge funds. These alternative mutual funds invest and hedge with derivatives, shorts, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and nearly anything else a hedge fund would be interested in.
Investors do not need to be accredited and may invest far less money. These alternative mutual funds also do not charge the standard yearly fees (2% on assets and 20% on performance) of their hedge fund brethren.
There are limits on leverage that can be employed by alternative mutual funds, but this can be a good thing, should a drawdown occur.
The alternative mutual fund space has been exploding in popularity. In 2007, there were just 112 alternative mutual funds. Today, there are 357 -- more than three times as many. I think this is just the start of the growth in alternative mutual funds.
Offering most of the benefits of hedge funds, but with a much lower entry price level, radically lower costs, and just enough regulatory oversight to increase the safety factor, alternative mutual funds may one day take the spotlight from the traditional hedge fund market.
In fact, multiple large hedge funds have launched or are considering launching alternative mutual fund products. It is truly a niche that should be on your investment radar.
【267】
[Time 5]
My Favorite Alternative Mutual Funds
Bridgeway Managed Volatility Fund (NYSE: BRBPX): This fund has produced more than 6% returns in the past year with 4% of that in 2013.
It seeks to provide high returns with short-term risk less than or equal to 40% of the stock market. About 75% of the fund's assets are invested in common stocks and options on companies that trade on regulated national exchanges.
Fees are low with an expense ratio of 0.94, and Morningstar lists risk at below average when compared with other funds in the same category.
Dreyfus Global Alpha Fund (NYSE: AVGAX): The word "alpha" in the hedge fund world means performance above the norm, and this alternative mutual fund fits the name.
The fund seeks total return by investing in the global equity, currency, bond and fixed income securities. It primarily uses futures, options and forward contracts that allow the fund's managers to make fast decisions. The fund has earned investors more than 8% in the past year and just under 5% in 2013.
Global Alpha has an expense ratio of 1.85%, which is above average, according to Morningstar, which also rates the fund as high risk compared with similar funds.
Risks to Consider: Alternative mutual funds should be used as a way of diversification and not a primary investment. The strategies employed often contain more risk than traditional mutual funds. This risk can be offset by higher rewards. Always use stops and position size properly in your portfolio.
【248】
Source: YAHOO Finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/anyone-invest-hedge-funds-only-181502953.html;_ylt=A2KJjb20filSwBMACsmTmYlQ
Article 4:
Hedge funds
Mastered by the universe
[Time 6]
IT IS turning into another difficult year for the hedge fund industry. Data from GlobeOp found that, in June, funds suffered the largest withdrawals in assets since October 2009. Eurekahedge found that hedge funds suffered their fourth consecutive month of negative returns in June; in the first half of the year, they eked out a return of 1.3%, compared to a 3.7% gain for the MSCI World index. That follows a 3.6% decline in 2011. for those investors who picked a fund-of-funds, with the accompanying extra layer of fees, a 0.4% return this year followed a 5.4% loss in 2011. In short, investors have lost money over the last 18 months.
The marketing claims of hedge funds have changed over the years. In the 1990s, the glory days of George Soros and Michael Steinhardt, it was argued that hedge fund managers were the "smartest guys in the room" who could produce superior returns. In the 2000s, as equity markets faltered, it was claimed that hedge fund managers delivered absolute returns; they tended not to lose money. But then they lost almost 20% in 2008. So now people talk about the uncorrelated returns hedge fund managers achieve.
There are lots of claims, and counter-claims; in this area; lots of studies that try to account for factors such as survivorship bias and volatility. But a few things seem pretty certain.
1. Many hedge fund managers are smart, and some managers may be a lot smarter than the average investor. The difficulty is in identifying those investors in advance.
2. There are some generally uncorrelated strategies but these niches can be quite small, and consist of illiquid assets. As a result, the lack of correlation with the big asset classes may be partly caused by the slowness of price adjustment in such assets, since deals are less common. But the corollary is that it is difficult to exit such strategies in a crisis, with the result that there are occasional steep drops in valuations.
3. For the bulk of the industry there is likely to be a reasonable correlation with indices such as the S&P 500. As the industry gets larger, this correlation is likely to increase and it will be harder for the average manager to outperform.
4. Hedge fund managers will thus be subject to the same constraint as mutual fund managers; that returns are equal to the index minus costs. And since their fees are higher, the result will be disappointing returns for the average investor.
【416】
Source: economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/buttonwood/2012/07/hedge-funds
Part III: Obstacle
Article 5: Hedge funds
Going nowhere fast
WHEN it comes to brainboxes, the name “Nobel” has a certain ring. But news that the Nobel Foundation plans to increase its investment in hedge funds, because years of low returns forced it to cut cash prizes in 2012, is one to leave laureates scratching their eggheads. The past year has been another mediocre one for hedge funds. The HFRX, a widely used measure of industry returns, is up by just 3%, compared with an 18% rise in the S&P 500 share index. Although it might be possible to shrug off one year’s underperformance, the hedgies’ problems run much deeper.
The S&P 500 has now outperformed its hedge-fund rival for ten straight years, with the exception of 2008 when both fell sharply. A simple-minded investment portfolio—60% of it in shares and the rest in sovereign bonds—has delivered returns of more than 90% over the past decade, compared with a meagre 17% after fees for hedge funds (see chart). As a group, the supposed sorcerers of the financial world have returned less than inflation. Gallingly, the profits passed on to their investors are almost certainly lower than the fees creamed off by the managers themselves.
There are, of course, market-beating superstars, as you would expect in an industry with nearly 8,000 participants (and rising). The top decile of managers has served up returns of over 30% in the past year, according to Hedge Fund Research, a data provider. But a third have lost money, including some of the stars of yesteryear: John Paulson, celebrated as an investment wizard in 2007 for having foreseen America’s housing bubble, reportedly saw his flagship fund lose 17% in the first ten months of 2012, after a 51% fall in 2011.
Justifications for poor performance are as diverse as hedge funds themselves. Mr Paulson seems to be blaming his malaise on a bet that Europe would falter. Others, from algorithmic traders spotting pricing anomalies to “macro” funds hoping to surf long-term trends, attribute their woes to choppy markets that are moved more by politicians than by underlying economic forces. “Markets are watching governments, which are watching the markets,” says Jim Vos of Aksia, a consultancy. Even a talented stockpicker will struggle to make money if the entire market is sent into convulsions by central-bank announcements. Many hedgies admit to having no “edge” in this environment. A few have slimmed or shut up shop.
For those that remain, the message to investors has changed dramatically. Whereas hedge funds used to sell themselves as the spicy, market-beating wedge of an investment portfolio, they now stress the long-term stability of their returns. Comparing their returns with a bubbling stockmarket misses the very point of “hedged” funds, say boosters.
Protecting your money from the vagaries of the stockmarket is hardly the swashbuckling stuff delivered by George Soros or Julian Robertson, the hedge-fund titans of the 1980s. But as well as reflecting the reality of meagre profits, it makes sense for the industry to sell itself as offering low volatility because of a tectonic shift in its investor base. In recent years institutions have gatecrashed what used to be an asset class catering mainly to super-rich individuals. Nearly two-thirds of the industry’s assets are now drawn from pension funds, endowments like the Nobel Foundation and other institutional investors, up from just 20% a decade ago.
These professional investors are much more risk-averse than the original billionaire backers of hedge funds. “Institutions are typically looking for more transparency and prioritise diversification over high returns,” says Omar Kodmani of Permal, a hedge-fund investor. Leverage, which once helped to juice up hedge-fund profits, is now at an all-time low.
The box-ticking requirements that have accompanied massive institutional inflows have led to a reduction in hedge funds’ octane levels. These investors want their hedge-fund managers to stick to their narrow area of expertise rather than flit between different strategies, for example.
The rigidity of the new model is one factor that has dampened returns over the years, thinks Simon Lack, an investment consultant and a vocal hedge-fund sceptic. Another reason is size. Hedge funds now manage $2.2 trillion in assets, up fourfold since 2000. Because individual trades can absorb only so much cash, the effect of all that new money is to push funds to take second-rate bets that would have been considered marginal in the past. “At $1 trillion of assets under management hedge funds delivered acceptable returns,” says Mr Lack. “Less so at $2 trillion.”
Defenders of the industry maintain that even a small allocation to hedge funds can diversify a portfolio away from turbulent markets. Perhaps, but long-term institutional investors should be well-placed to ride out market turmoil. And there are other ways to diversify. Exchange-traded funds allow investors to gain exposure to anything from gold to property to Indonesian firms, and they charge investors just a few basis points (hundredths of a percentage point) on the money they put in. That compares with fees of 2% of assets and 20% of profits (above a certain level) typically charged by hedge funds. In a low-interest-rate environment, where returns are unlikely to hit double digits, a 2% annual management charge seems particularly steep. Institutions have put pressure on fees, but with only mixed success so far.
The hedge-fund industry’s trump card is that a handful among them have delivered stellar returns over the long term. But the same is true of any sort of investment. The average hedge fund is a lousy bet, and predicting which will thrive and which will disappoint is a task that would tax even a Nobel prizewinner.
【931】
Source: economist
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21568741-hedge-funds-have-had-another-lousy-year-cap-disappointing-decade-going
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发表于 2013-9-6 21:58:59
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来自 2#
500 has outperformedits hedge-fund rival for almost ten yrs.
