weekend notes

Hope all goes well. Mkts continue to adjust to too many cooks in the FX kitchen. Heading into this weekend, knives were flying and it got pretty messy. We got cut up on some Renminbi and Brazil longs, Euro shorts hurt too – took some of our bigger risks off on Fri – G20 is a wildcard. Overall: There’s a war in progress. The world needs a grown-up in the sandbox or kids are gonna get hu

Hope all goes well. Had a great trip to NY, met loads of fascinating folks. Most everyone thinks QE is driving the equity rally and don’t want to buy – ‘cause they think it’s a bad reason to own stocks. But up goes the S&P, all alone, with many sad faces waving goodbye. Speculative USD shorts hit all-time highs, but the sell-off stalled on Fri. Overall: The Chilean miners emerged from th

Hope all goes well. Foreign Exchange is the world’s chess board; and now everyone’s joined the tournament. With any luck, the novice players will make it easier for old dogs like us to win trophies. Overall: Global politicians debated the precise meaning of “currency war”; took me back to Clinton’s “what exactly is the definition of is” days. Meanwhile, in the voting booth, traders pulled the “Sel

Hope all goes well. Just finished an insane 2 wk tour of NY/Switz, met great folks and had fun but there’s no place like home. The Swiss are more concerned about the world than New Yorker’s, but their economy’s humming and FoF industry stabilizing. Overall: Brazil’s Fin Min Mantega started the wk by stating the obvious, warning of an emerging “currency war” on Mon. Geithner ended the wk, embarrass

Hope all goes well. No place buzzes like money-making Manhattan, I got pretty high. Things are picking up, you can feel it; maybe not in the real economy, but certainly in the paper economy. Met lots of bears with bulging eyeballs, squeezing does that. Guys don’t seem long yet. Overall: The mkt jumped and dollar dumped Mon in anticipation of Bernanke restarting his printing press. Free money is su

Hope all goes well. Great wk; saw my family, made some money, added some risk. Looked for clever option structures to be short the US dollar. Found a bunch. Lucked out and took some Euro/Yen shorts off before the Bank of Japan intervention. Off to NY next wk and then Switzerland the wk after; thank god we manage risk better than my schedule. Overall: StrongChinese data printed, IMF judges said the

Hope all goes well. Got myself caught in a fast mkt in Chicago, lost count, still adding my fills, think I met somethin’ like 23 firms. The boys are getting loose in the saddle, ready to start switching horses soon; different tone from 3mths ago.. Overall: What a silly wk, hot air and garbage everywhere. WSJ announced the stress tests were unreliable (my kiddies knew that), and FT announced German

Off to the Windy City, warm intros always appreciated. Overall: The BOJ hinted at aggressive ease but then merely tinkered and this along with the Fed’s recent modest moves left traders wondering if these guys are almost out of Red Bull. S&P’s finished their worst August in 9yrs -4.7%. The calendar flipped, US ISM surged, and the boys got caught with their beachballs deep underwater. Stocks ro

Hope all goes well. Met with lots of good folks in the Lone Star and Empire States. I had a better wk than our portfolio did. Declines in risk assets and USD strength hurt. We’ve been hoping for some weakness to buy and it often hurts on the way in. Overall: Data flow was just horrible. Home sales plunge by a record, taking the US back to ’93 levels. Ireland’s downgrade spooked investors, CDS for