A buddy in Santa Barbara (Dan) was a US Olympic coach and built a nice training biz. Makes $200k/yr which in the real world (non-finance) is a lot. He couldn’t afford to buy a house and rents for $3,500/mth. His next-door neighbor (Bob) bought an identical house and paid $1.2mm. Bob stopped paying his mortgage 1yr ago because the house is now worth $750k. The bank hasn’t bothered to kick Bob out. Guessing

Overall: Volatility of both prices and sentiment rule the day. Papers and mags starting to call this a trading range, they’re exhausted like everyone else. The Economist ran “Hope at Last” 6wks ago and then ”Fear Returns” last wk. Israel is now the mag’s cover (much easier to deal with the Middle East than stocks). Blackrock’s Fink gives the all-clear for a bull run on Wed; on Thurs Hungary’s new PM says he may defau

Worst May for DJIA since 1940. At Tues low, mkt had ~15% correction. Economist runs cover “Fear Returns”. In April it ran a cover “Hope at Last”. They’re not the only ones buying highs and selling lows. AAII wkly poll of retail investors show over 50% bearish for 1st time since Nov. No one seems to be making money and risk levels keep dropping. HFRX HF Index -2.7% in May and -0.3% ytd vs

Few of my Prop Trading boys called and asked, “So how hard is it to start a hedge fund?” Easy as climbing Everest, I explained. “Fuck that,” they said. So what’s next for the boys? (A) pray the lobbyists sneak in a last minute delay/change, (B) disperse across the trading floor like beaten Taliban fighters, or (C) take a job at Brevan. No joke, big banks are taking the Volker Rule very seriously and choos

Overall: Worst May for DJIA since 1940. At Tues low, mkt had ~15% correction. Economist runs cover “Fear Returns”. In April it ran a cover “Hope at Last”. They’re not the only ones buying highs and selling lows. AAII wkly poll of retail investors show over 50% bearish for 1st time since Nov. No one seems to be making money and risk levels keep dropping. HFRX HF Index -2.7% in May and -0.

German regulators panic and spark mayhem. US Fin Reg reform passes despite 3,000 lobbyists at play. Australia slaps 40% tax on commodity producers. As big brother stomped through the underbrush, investors ran for cover, bought hedges, pushed VIX to 46 (closed wk at 40). $5.3trln lost in global equities mtd. Margin clerks took charge; pain ruled the day with a Euro rally as risk assets plunged. Market braced for anoth

Had lunch with one of the big real-money bond PM’s in LA. No, not the part-time CNBC anchor. Brilliant guy. Vigilante. Fascinating convo… Macro View: growth improving with obvious risk factors. The fact we haven’t collapsed yet suggest somehow we’ll survive. Biggest risk factor is overzealous Fin-Reg. Best Trades: short inflation swaps in US and EU (our favorite trade too). Buy Libor blow-out

Overall: German regulators panic and spark mayhem. US Fin Reg reform passes despite 3,000 lobbyists at play. Australia slaps 40% tax on commodity producers. As big brother stomped through the underbrush, investors ran for cover, bought hedges, pushed VIX to 46 (closed wk at 40). $5.3trln lost in global equities mtd. Margin clerks took charge; pain ruled the day with a Euro rally as risk assets plunged. Market braced

The $1trln shock-and-awe saved the world though plenty of smart investors/traders doubt short & med-term success. The EU went “all in” so we can expect more help if need be. Still, everyone knows it just papers over long-term problems. The failed relief rally gave way to consensus that EUR can only fall. EUR shorts and sentiment hit historic highs. Debate now centers on question “can EUR fall an

Lots of conversation in London with wealthy people about (1) how taxes are going higher, (2) how to avoid them, and (3) how the new Lib-Con Gov’t will try but fail to bring drastic austerity measures. “Move to Ireland. Move to Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore. How much will taxes go up? What’s my pain threshold before I’d be willing to move? Spending cuts and tax hikes will crush economy, etc