News Stories & Articles

Private-Mortgage Market Nears Unraveling, Undoing Decade of Work

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Joe Light    -- April 14, 2020,
The nascent market for private U.S. mortgages is teetering on the brink of collapse as the coronavirus crisis imperils years of work to lessen the government’s role in home lending.”

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Supercharged Debt Bets Unravel and Expose Wall Street Risks

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Sally Bakewell , Sridhar Natarajan , and Nabila Ahmed    -- April 1, 2020,
Everyone knows you are playing with fire with leverage,” said Michael Terwilliger, a portfolio manager at Resource Credit Income Fund. “Response to the last panic has built the new panic.”

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Trillion-Dollar Monster Lurks as Bonds Price Out Duration Risk

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Anchalee Worrachate and Liz McCormick    -- June 26, 2019,
“Investors riding easy-money policies are breeding a trillion-dollar monster in the bond market, the likes of which has never been seen in decades of history.”

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Credit Markets Flash a Liquidity Warning That Pimco Saw Coming

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Tasos Vossos    -- June 5, 2019,
“Pimco’s fund managers are concerned that liquidity in corporate bonds is drying up when investors need it the most. They’re right.”

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Red Flags in Corporate Debt Markets Are Worrying Some Bond Kings

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Claire Boston and Sally Bakewell    -- May 30, 2019,
“Corporate credit quality, as measured by company debt levels relative to earnings, has been deteriorating as companies add cheap debt.”

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Pimco Outlook Says Keep Some Powder Dry for Possible Disruptions

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By John Gittelsohn    -- May 29, 2019,
“Investors should avoid chasing yields and remain flexible to seize potential opportunities from market disruptions, with the high likelihood of a recession over the next three-to-five years, according to a new economic outlook by Pacific Investment Management Co.”

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Millennials Are Helping Sound Credit Card Alarm

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Brian Chappatta    -- May 15, 2019,
“The U.S. credit card industry might be in a battle on two fronts.”

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The Bond King Is Worried About The Economy And You Should Be, Too.

Forbes  --  By Jim Collins    -- MAY 7, 2019
“I may style myself The Guru, but when it comes to fixed income investments, I defer to the King. The Bond King, that is, Jeffrey Gundlach of DoubleLine Capital. I am not sure of the etymology of his royal title, but I find Gundlach to be the keenest observer of the obscure inner workings of the bond markets, especially now that Bill Gross has retired.”

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A $1 Trillion Powder Keg Threatens the Corporate Bond Market

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By By Molly Smith and Christopher Cannon    -- October 11, 2018
“They were once models of financial strength—corporate giants like AT&T Inc., Bayer AG and British American Tobacco Plc.”

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Greenspan Warns of ‘Extremely Imbalanced’ Path of U.S. Deficit

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Liz McCormick    -- February 12, 2019, 2:15 PM CST Updated on February 13, 2019, 2:49 AM CST
“This is an extremely imbalanced situation,” Greenspan, who led the Fed from 1987 to 2006, said in a phone interview. “Politically, budget deficits really don’t matter. What matters is the consequences.”

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General Electric Is Flashing Caution Signs in Credit Markets

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Molly Smith Boesler    -- November 13, 2018
General Electric Co. may still have a relatively solid investment-grade rating, but investors aren’t taking their chances. They’re snapping up derivatives that protect against losses on the company’s debt.

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Bond Traders Move Closer to Fed, Ramping Up 2019 Rate Hike Bets

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Liz McCormick and Matthew Boesler    -- September 18, 2018
Two-year U.S. rates on Wednesday climbed to levels unseen in more than a decade, while a selloff in the past two days is driving the benchmark 10-year yield above 3 percent and near its highs for the year.

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Nearly $1 Billion Flees Third-Largest Debt ETF as Caution Rules

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Rachel Evans   -- August 31, 2018
First, it was emerging markets. Then U.S. stocks. Now the flight from risk is spreading to bonds.

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Housing Headwinds Are Getting Stiffer: Danielle DiMartino Booth

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Danielle DiMartino Booth   -- July 31, 2018
Expectations were approaching ebullience heading into this spring’s U.S. home-selling season.

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How It Got Riskier to Own High-Quality Corporate Bonds

NYTIMES  --  By Carla Fried    -- July 15, 2018
Bonds issued by United States companies with strong balance sheets have been delivering the weakest returns of all major American bond categories this year, adding to the headaches of fixed-income investors.

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Wall Street Competes With Unregulated Banks for the Riskiest Loans

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Sally Bakewell    -- July 12, 2018
Wall Street’s junk war is heating up. On one side are major banks, which are diving back into high-risk corporate lending now that U.S. regulators have loosened up. On the other are so-called shadow lenders -- private equity shops, boutique banks and other financial players that muscled in on this business when regulators restrained the big banks five years ago.

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Big banks are exploiting a risky Dodd-Frank loophole that could cause a repeat of 2008

FASTCOMPANY NEWS  --  By Marcus Baram   -- June 29, 2018
A decade ago, when the global economy crashed, many economists, financial regulators, investors, and so-called experts were caught by surprise. Not Michael Greenberger. The University of Maryland law professor had been warning for years about the risks posed by an unregulated derivatives market and over-leveraged banks.

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JPMorgan Says Clients Are Clinging to Risk Despite ‘Palpable’ Anxiety

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Dani Burger   -- June 14, 2018
Many are worried, yet few are prepared. Such is the oddity of investing in 2018, as the bull market staggers on despite cracks forming under the surface. Credit is exhibiting weakness, monetary conditions are tightening and sudden crashes are becoming the norm. Yet selling on the budding late-cycle dynamics may mean missing out on stellar returns from risk assets.

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Fannie-Freddie Rise After White House Proposes Privatization

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Gregory Mott   -- June 21, 2018
The Trump administration wants Congress to remove the federal charters for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as part of a plan to release the mortgage giants from U.S. control, according to a sweeping proposal for reorganizing the government released Thursday.

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Soros Sees New Global Financial Crisis Brewing, EU Under Threat

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Nikos Chrysoloras and Helene Fouquet  -- May 29, 2018
A surging dollar and a capital flight from emerging markets may lead to another “major” financial crisis, investor George Soros said, warning the European Union that it’s facing an imminent existential threat.

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Safest Assets Offer No Protection in This Brewing Rates Storm

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Dani Burger  -- May 23, 2018
Some of the most reliable corners in financial markets are reeling as interest-rate risks take hold.

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Sweeping Overhaul of Bank Rules Clears U.S. House

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Elizabeth Dexheimer   -- May 22, 2018
The U.S. House has approved a sweeping overhaul of bank regulations, sending to President Donald Trump a bill that will give him a chance to make good on his vow to "do a big number" on the Dodd-Frank Act.

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Wall Street expert issues most dire warning to date that Dallas home values are 'overheating'

Dallas Morning  --  By Steve Brown, Real Estate Editor   --March 19
Dallas-Fort Worth is one of most overvalued home markets in the country, a top Wall Street analyst warns.

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U.S. Sales of Existing Homes Climb to an Almost 11-Year High

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Sho Chandra   --December 20, 2017
The results show broad strength, with particular firmness in the upper-end market where inventory conditions are “markedly better,” the group said. Forty-four percent of homes sold in November were on the market for less than a month.

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(BBO) Pressure on U.S. Households Deepens: Danielle DiMartino-Booth

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Danielle DiMartino Booth   --November 22, 2017
Is the U.S. economy enjoying a honeymoon, or is this merely a hiatus? Although this isn't a subject of discussion among most economists, there will be both good and bad associated with three hurricanes and the California wildfires.

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No U.S. Bailout for Puerto Rican Debt, Trump’s Budget Chief Says

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Justin Sink and Jennifer Epstein   -- October 4, 2017
President Donald Trump’s budget chief said not to take the president’s suggestion that Puerto Rico’s debt would be “wiped out” literally, as the territory’s bonds plunged to a record low on Wednesday.

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U.S. Credit-Card Debt Surpasses Record Set at Brink of Crisis

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Jennifer Surane    -- August 7, 2017
U.S. consumer credit-card debt just passed an ominous milestone, beating a record set just before the global financial system almost collapsed in 2008.

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Citi just drew an 'eerily reminiscent' parallel between student loans and the subprime mortgage crisis

Business Insider  --  By Abby Jackson    -- Jul. 27, 2017
Borrowers are missing their student loan payments with such high frequency that a Citi Global Perspectives & Solutions report recently raised the specter of the subprime mortgage crisis to describe parallels between the two groups of loan holders.

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Greenspan Sees No Stock Excess, Warns of Bond Market Bubble

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Oliver Renick and Liz McCormick    -- July 31, 2017
Equity bears hunting for excess in the stock market might be better off worrying about bond prices, Alan Greenspan says. That’s where the actual bubble is, and when it pops, it’ll be bad for everyone.

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New U.S. Subprime Boom, Same Old Sins: Auto Defaults Are Soaring

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Gabrielle Coppola    -- July 17, 2017
It’s classic subprime: hasty loans, rapid defaults, and, at times, outright fraud. Only this isn’t the U.S. housing market circa 2007. It’s the U.S. auto industry circa 2017.

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Wells Fargo Unsettles Mortgage Bond Market by Holding Back Funds

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Alastair Marsh and Tracy Alloway    -- June 30, 2017
Wells Fargo & Co. surprised investors this week by withholding more than $90 million due to buyers of pre-crisis residential mortgage-backed securities.

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Bill Gross Says Market Risk Is Highest Since Pre-2008 Crisis

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By John Gittelsohn and Erik Schatzker   -- June 7, 2017
U.S. markets are at their highest risk levels since before the 2008 financial crisis because investors are paying a high price for the chances they’re taking, according to Bill Gross, manager of the $2 billion Janus Henderson Global Unconstrained Bond Fund.

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Bond Traders Ignore Fed Balance Sheet at Their Peril: Gadfly

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Lisa Abramowicz   -- April 5, 2017
The Federal Reserve is trying to send a message to bond traders: prepare for a reduction in its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. But the traders aren't buying it yet..

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Blackstone Sends a Warning to Illiquid Debt Funds: Gadfly

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Lisa Abramowicz   -- March 20, 2017
Since the 2008 financial crisis, asset managers have pledged they could both invest in risky, infrequently traded assets while allowing clients to withdraw their money whenever they wanted.

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U.S. Subprime Auto Loan Losses Reach Highest Level Since the Financial Crisis

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Matt Scully    -- March 10, 2017
U.S. subprime auto lenders are losing money on car loans at the highest rate since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis as more borrowers fall behind on payments, according to S&P Global Ratings.

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Bond Kings Gross and Gundlach Fight Over a Dead Bull: Gadfly

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Nir Kaissar   -- Jan 13, 2017
Two of the biggest names in bond investing -- Jeffrey Gundlach and Bill Gross -- recently squabbled over that question. Gross says the bond party will officially end when the 10-year Treasury yield tops 2.6 percent (it’s currently 2.4 percent). Gundlach insists that the end is 3 percent.

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Remember ABX? Wall Street Said to Test New Mortgage Index

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Matt Scully   -- January 24, 2017
A bond-market startup is a step closer to reviving crisis-era derivatives that let investors bet on U.S. homeowner defaults. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Credit Suisse Group AG have given price data to the startup, New York-based Vista Capital Advisors, which rolled out the latest version of its pilot initiative this month, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Vista has been working on the project for the past few years with Intercontinental Exchange Inc. The firm plans to use that data to create indexes of mortgage securities, which in turn would become the basis for the derivatives, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.

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Bond Investors Now Losing Most Sleep Over Rising Populism

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Natasha Doff  -- December 20, 2016
Forget Federal Reserve interest rate hikes and rising inflation -- the thing that’s really worrying bond investors at the moment is politics.

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Dow Heads for 20,000 as Fed Rate Hike Looms, Oil Extends Gains

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Jeremy Herron and Natasha Doff  -- December 13
Global stocks advanced, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average within 100 points of 20,000 on speculation that the Federal Reserve’s expected rate increase signals confidence that the economy is strengthening. The dollar and Treasuries were little changed.

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Hedge Fund Woes After U.S. Crackdown Don’t Surprise SEC’s Chair

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Benjamin Bain  -- October 14, 2016
Hedge fund returns have fallen off a cliff since U.S. prosecutors and regulators initiated a sweeping crackdown against insider trading in recent years. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White is among officials who’ve taken notice.

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JPMorgan to Expand Capital Relief Trades Tied to Mortgage Book

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Matt Scully  -- October 12, 2016
- Expanding on JPM’s new risk-sharing program is “the right thing to do for the Chase portfolio and for our shareholders,” executive director Eric Norquist said at an industry conference in NYC.

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Credit Hedge Funds, Ask Not for Whom the Bell Tolls: Gadfly

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Christopher Langner   -- October 11, 2016
Yet another credit hedge fund closes down in Asia. First, let's have a moment of silence for the brave folks at Saka Capital, which at one point was referred to by banks as one of the largest credit hedge funds based in Asia.

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Bank Jobs That Dodged the Crisis Now Face a Robot Dawn: Gadfly

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Elaine He   -- October 4, 2016
If the crisis didn't get you, the robots might. Weak revenue and negative interest rates aren't the only reason European banks are cutting jobs. Technology is playing its part, too. With mobile banking, who needs to visit a bank teller?

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Why Americans Feel Poor, in One Chart

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Narayana Kocherlakota -- October 4, 2016
Why do so many Americans feel dissatisfied about the economic state of their nation? One simple chart offers a lot of insight. Economists measure standards of living in many ways. Among the most common is to look at the change in the value of goods and services produced by a country, adjusted for inflation and for population growth. This measure, known as per capita real gross domestic product, essentially shows how much income the average person is generating.

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Hedge Fund Industry Growth ‘Unwelcome,’ Says Caxton’s Law (1)

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Saijel Kishan   -- September 14, 2016
Andrew Law said the hedge fund business is too big -- and failing. Law, who runs Caxton Associates, said the growth in industry assets since the global financial crisis has been “both an exceptional and unwelcome development.” Managers now need to generate gains of $350 billion a year to satisfy investor expectations, he said. That’s an annual return of about 12 percent from the $2.9 trillion industry, which has returned an average of 2.2 percent in the past five years.

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Caxton Reduces Management Fees as Industry Pressure Mounts (2)

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Saijel Kishan   -- September 14, 2016
Andrew Law’s Caxton Associates, one of the oldest and most expensive hedge funds, trimmed management fees amid losses, joining Tudor Investment Corp. and Och-Ziff Capital Management in responding to an investor backlash that’s roiled the industry.

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Wall Street's Big Employers to New York City: Drop Dead: Gadfly

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Michael P. Regan and Rani Molla   -- September 14, 2016
-- Frank Sinatra famously inspired all manner of New Yorkers by singing: "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere." For those looking to make it in a financial services career, however, it may be time to focus on the "anywhere" part of the dream. As in: anywhere but New York. Or even Chicago, for that matter.

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Smart Money Going to War With VIX-Obsessed Stock Market Bears

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Lu Wang and Joseph Ciolli   -- August 29, 2016
They can’t both be right. Below the surface of the calmest stock market in five decades, a divergence in sentiment has opened in which institutional investors are surrendering hedges and diving deeper into stocks, while individuals load up on protective options and sell equity funds. Bets are piling up at the fastest rate ever as stocks meander, setting the stage for pain when the sleepy spell resolves.

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Maybe We Clamped Down Too Hard on Finance: Barry Ritholtz

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Barry Ritholtz   -- August 26, 2016
Let’s talk today about compliance in the financial industry. This topic seems to come up a lot lately. I hear complaints from brokers on the sell side, most of whom don't have kind words to say about their main regulatory overseer, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority -- even though it's supposedly in the pocket of the financial industry.

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Gross Says Yellen’s Economy ‘May Never Walk Normally Again

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By John Gittelsohn   -- August 26, 2016
Bill Gross, the billionaire Janus Capital Group Inc. money manager, criticized Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s suggestion that she could consider further asset purchases as the equivalent of “providing a walker or a wheelchair for an ailing economy.”

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Och-Ziff Capital Puts Another Nail in 2-and-20 Coffin: Gadfly

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Michael P. Regan   -- August 24, 2016
Hey, look, another hedge fund is throwing a sale! Och-Ziff Capital Management Group is trimming the management fees on some of its main funds -- which range from 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent of assets annually -- by 25 basis points, as Sabrina Willmer and Saijel Kishan reported this week..

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Hedge Funds See Biggest Redemptions Since ’09 as Returns Lag

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Hema Parmar   -- August 24, 2016
For hedge funds, the news is getting worse. Investors pulled an estimated $25.2 billion from hedge funds last month, the biggest monthly redemption since February 2009, according to an eVestment report. The monthly withdrawals were the second straight for the beleaguered industry, which saw $23.5 billion pulled in June. They bring total outflows this year to $55.9 billion, driven by “mediocre” performance after a number of funds lost money last year, according to Wednesday’s report.

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Blockchain Is Banks' Secret Sauce. Bye-Bye Back Office: Gadfly

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Christopher Langner   -- August 24, 2016
Here's some good news for bank shareholders: Profits are about to rise. Sorry to inform the hundreds of thousands of people who work in the various transaction-verification processes, but that will come at the expense of your jobs.

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The Fix Is Out: Fannie and Freddie Heading for New Troubles

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Joe Light    -- August 18, 2016
The hole at the corner of 15th and L streets, in downtown Washington, is deep -- and getting deeper. Earth-movers there are laying the foundations of a shiny new headquarters for Fannie Mae, the bailed-out giant of American mortgages.

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Steve Eisman’s Next Big Short Is Hedge Fund Fees

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Katherine Burton, Saijel Kishan and Katia Porzecanski   -- August 18, 2016
Steve Eisman made his name and fortune by foreseeing the collapse of subprime mortgage securities. Now he’s betting against a different kind of Wall Street money machine. He thinks hedge fund fees are going to tumble.

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As Buy Side Rises, New Bond Lords Emerge to Overtake Wall Street

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Alastair Marsh and Sridhar Natarajan   -- August 15, 2016
It’s not Wall Street, where the biggest names in banking stalk the canyons of Manhattan. And it’s not the City of London, where grand financial institutions new and ancient grace the shores of the slate-gray Thames. No, this is Columbus, Ohio, and John McClain, a portfolio manager at Diamond Hill Capital Management, surveys a panorama unlike the traditional citadels of capitalism.

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The Titanic Risks of the Retirement System

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Mohamed A. El-Erian   -- August 12, 2016
Imagine an entire enterprise set on course for disaster, driven by the owner’s arrogant pursuit of profit. The members of the management team, from the CEO on down, know better but fail to resist or are ignored.

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The New Wall Street: Even Big Banks Want Help Navigating Markets

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Matthew Leising and Annie Massa  -August 10, 2016,
After JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s shares plunged 21 percent in the opening minutes of trading on Aug. 24 last year, the world’s largest investment bank sought out an unlikely ally, Virtu Financial Inc., to help it understand what happened.

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Greenspan ‘Nervous’ Bond Prices Too High as Treasuries Sell Off

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Jeanna Smialek and Andrea Wong  -July 28, 2016,
“We get very nervous when the stock price index goes to high p/e, we ought to be somewhat nervous when the bond rate does the same,”

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Bad Year Made Worse for Stock Pickers Outmatched by Complexity

Bloomberg  --  By: Dani Burger   --   -- July 28
“It’s inexcusable to not be aware of the factor bets you’re making,” said Benjamin Dunn, president of Alpha Theory Advisors, which works with hedge funds overseeing about $6 billion. “If a risk can be measured and you can speak about it, you should at least have a reason for why you’re choosing to take that risk.”

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Can the World Deal With a New Bank Crisis?

Bloomberg  --  By: Satyajit Das   --   July 27
"Once again, banks in the U.S., Canada, U.K., several European countries, Asia, Australia and New Zealand are heavily exposed to property markets, which are overvalued by historical measures."

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Gundlach Beats Stocks With $1 Billion Shiller-Themed Fund

Bloomberg  --  By: John Gittelsohn   --   July 1, 2016
"Team a top-ranked bond manager with a Nobel Prize-winning economist, and you might just have a shot at beating the stock market."

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Too-Easy Money Is Making It Too Hard to Gauge Markets, BIS Says

Bloomberg  --  By: Anchalee Worrachate   --   June 26, 2016
Monetary policy is running out of room for maneuver,” said Hyun Song Shin, head of research at the BIS, in an interview. “It is not clear how much further stimulus of the real economy can be achieved using monetary-policy tools alone without inviting unwanted distortions.”

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Pimco Says ‘Storm Is Brewing’ in U.S. Commercial Real Estate

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By John Gittelsohn and Sarah Mulholland  --June 20, 2016,
U.S. commercial real estate prices may fall as much as 5 percent in the next 12 months amid tightened regulations, a wall of debt maturities and property sales by publicly traded landlords, Pacific Investment Management Co. said in a report Monday.

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Fintech Is Ending Money Management as We Know It

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Barry Ritholtz  --   june 8 2016,
Financial Technology Partners is a San Francisco-based investment-banking firm focused, appropriately enough, on the financial-technology industry. I managed to get my hands on its new report of how fintech is altering the landscape for money management. The report looks at industry trends, interviews numerous fintech executives and sizes up all of the usual big picture Silicon Valley stuff.

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This $600 Billion Bond Manager Says Don’t Count on Liquidity

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By Sarah Jones and Katherine Chiglinsky  --  . May 20, 2016,
" "You have seen a disruption,” Lillard said Friday at a meeting with journalists in London held by PGIM, the investment-management arm. “The structure in the market is clearly changing. Liquidity in the market is clearly lower than it used be which is presenting challenges but also opportunities."

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Hedge Funds’ Lucrative Fee Model Seen Facing Smart Beta Threat

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --   By Nishant Kumar  --  May 20, 2016
"Hedge funds, shrinking at the fastest pace since the financial crisis, face a challenge to their lucrative fee model: “smart beta” money pools that charge a quarter of the levy and often don’t demand a share of the profits."

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Hedge Funds Under Attack as Cohen Says Skilled People Are Scarce

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --   By Saijel Kishan  --  May 3, 2016
"Frankly, I’m blown away by the lack of talent,” Cohen said at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on Monday. “It’s not easy to find great people. We whittle down the funnel to maybe 2 to 4 percent of the candidates we’re interested in. Talent is really thin."

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Hedge Fund Fees Slammed at Milken as Investors Join Buffett

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --   By Katia Porzecanski  --  May 2, 2016
"Top investors took hedge fund fees to task at the Milken conference Monday, with participants saying managers return too little and face a wave of closures."

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Bond Hedge Funds Facing ‘Worst Quarter in History,’ Loomis Says

Bloomberg  --  By: Finbarr Flynn and Kevin Buckland   --   March 17, 2016
"It is going to be a really, really bad quarter for some U.S. hedge funds that invest in fixed-income securities, and waning market liquidity has a lot to do with it, according to Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Loomis Sayles & Co."

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Worried About Bond Liquidity? Blame the Regulators

Bloomberg  --  By: Mark Gilbert   --   February 08, 2016
"The European Commission asked agencies, regulators and other market participants to comment on the current state of play "given the large amount of legislation put in place and the interactions between them" and the corresponding "need to understand their combined impact and whether they give rise to any unintended consequences."

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Wall Street Pulls Back From Mortgage Market That Fed Made Boring

Bloomberg  --  By: Matt Scully   --   February 5, 2016
"Mortgage securities still trade actively, but if more players slim down their businesses, buying and selling large volumes could become harder, and home loan rates for consumers could also edge higher."

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Fed's Rate Hike Affecting Average Americans

Bloomberg  --  By: Victoria Stilwell  --   December 16, 2015
"The Federal Reserve just raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2006, an event market participants and economists have been breathlessly speculating over for months."

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Bond Funds Are On Their Own

Bloomberg  --  By: Tracy Alloway  --   December 13, 2015
"Sorry, the trader just stepped away,” is a Wall Street cliché sometimes used to describe the tendency of broker-dealers to conveniently disappear from their desks during times of market stress. Unfortunately for debt investors, it seems vast swathes of the credit market are on a permanent break thanks to huge changes wrought on the business of trading corporate bonds in the aftermath of the financial crisis."

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The Fed has painted itself into the most dangerous corner in history

Business Insider  --  By: David Stockman  --   December 10, 2015
"The chart below crystallizes why the Fed is stranded in a monetary no man’s land. By the time of next week’s meeting the federal funds rate will have been pinned at about 10 bps, or effectively zero, for 84 straight months."

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Debt-Limit Deadlock Leaves Bond Investors Wondering What’s Next

Bloomberg  --  By: Liz Capo McCormick and Kasia Klimasinska  --   October 21, 2015
"It’s that time again. When Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew set Nov. 3 as the probable date when the government may no longer be able to cover its expenses without Congress boosting the debt limit, the bond market took notice."

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Bill Gross Says Americans Getting 'Burned Alive' by Fed Policy

TheStreet)  --  By Carleton English   --   "September 23, 2015
The savers hoping for 8% to 10% returns on their portfolios to pay for college, retirement and vacation are drawing a fraction of that amount, thanks to interest rates the Federal Reserve has held at nearly zero since the 2008 financial crisis."

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The Federal Reserve Should Raise Rates Already

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL   --  By:Lincoln S. Ellis   --   "Sept 1, 2015
After nine years of no rate hikes, it's time to begin returning to normal. It's true there's no inflation. And, yes, the economy is middling. But neither of those conditions justifies maintaining the zero-bound interest policy. "

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Nobody Knows How Much Bonds Cost

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL   --  By: Matt Levine   --   July 28, 2015
" As you may have heard, people are worried about bond market liquidity. One problem is that banks don't want to trade bonds any more, because that is not such a good business in the modern regulatory environment"

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Bondcube Failure Reveals Pricing Flaw in $8 Trillion Bond Market

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL   --  By: Matthew Leising and John Detrixhe  --   July 27, 2015
"The collapse of fixed-income trading platform Bondcube after only three months highlighted an obstacle to creating new trading venues in the $8 trillion market: a lack of prices to foster liquidity"

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Five Years Later, Dodd-Frank Still Falls Short: Mark Whitehouse

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL   --   By Mark Whitehouse   --   July 21 2015
" President Barack Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, aimed at ensuring the financial system would never again bring the U.S. to the brink of economic disaster. Five years later, the job remains far from done. QuickTakeCapital Requirements... . . ."

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Yellen Puts Bond Market on Notice 2015 Rate Increase Is Looming

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL   --   By Daniel Kruger   --   July 10 2015
" Janet Yellen is reminding the bond market that 2015 will include at least one interest-rate increase. After Treasuries posted a four-day rally through July 8 on refuge demand linked to unsolved Greek bailout talks and plunging Chinese stocks, U.S. debt reversed direction... . . ."

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Caught in Bond Liquidity Trap? Treasuries May Be First to Suffer

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL   --   By Alexandra Scaggs   --   June 28 2015
"When you can’t sell what you want, then be prepared to sell what you can. And for a growing number of fund managers concerned about a lack of bond-market liquidity, that means U.S. Treasuries. In recent months, Amundi, which oversees $1.1 trillion, began creating pools of its easy-to-sell securities that include Treasuries, which it can unload first to prevent redemptions from forcing its managers into fire sales of thinly traded debt.... . . ."

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Washington to Bond Traders: We’re Worried About Liquidity Too

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL   --  By Lisa Abramowicz and Nabila Ahmed   --   June 18, 2015
"Wall Street bankers who’ve been warning that poor liquidity is endangering the $39 trillion U.S. bond market are gaining an audience with regulators... . . ."

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Bond Rout Wipes Out 2015 Gains as Traders Stay Glued to Screens

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL   --  By Cecile Gutscher   --   June 4, 2015
"The global bond market selloff has erased all of this year’s gains as historic market moves from Germany to the U.S. and Japan whipsaw traders. After being up as much as 2.3 percent as of mid-April, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Broad Market Index of bonds with a total face value of $41 trillion is now down 0.4 percent for the year... . . ."

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Moody’s: SEC disclosure rule for due diligence enhances RMBS transparency

HOUSINGWIRE   --  By Trey Garrison   --   June 2, 2015
"The SEC’s Rule 15Ga-2 will improve risk assessment for investors’ ability to assess the risk in the assets that back the transactions. Prior to the rule becoming effective, issuers and underwriters typically kept loan- level TPR findings private and made them available only to rating agencies while providing a summary of the findings to investors,” Moody’s says.. . . ."

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(BN) TCW’s Flack Says He’s Cutting Back on MBS Before the Fed Does

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL  --  By Christopher Condon and Kathleen M. Howley  --   May 18, 2015
"The Fed owned $2.46 trillion in Treasuries as of May 14 and is keeping its holdings steady by reinvesting the money it receives when bonds mature or when mortgages tied to its MBS holdings are paid off early. That still makes the Fed a leading source of demand, gobbling up $150 billion to $250 billion a year in new mortgages. . . ."

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(BN)Top-Ranked Bond Manager Itching for New Breed of Risky Mortgages

BLOOMBERG NEWS JOURNAL  --  By Jody Shenn  --   May 12, 2015
"WASHINGTON—U.S. Brad Friedlander of Angel Oak Capital Advisors has ranked among the top 6 percent of his peers by betting on boom-era U.S. housing debt in his $4 billion mutual fund. He’s now eager to buy bonds backed by riskier new mortgages that private lenders had until recently abandoned . . ."

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(BN) BofA Leads Charge to Bonds as Banks Build $2 Trillion Hoard (1)

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --   By Liz Capo McCormick and Daniel Kruger  --  Feb 23, 2015
"What do America’s banks know about the state of the U.S. economy that has them hoarding ultra-safe bonds? Growth is on a tear, hiring is the strongest in decades and households are the most upbeat since 2011. Yet banks such as Bank of America Corp. keep plowing their burgeoning deposits into U.S. government and related debt -- pushing the industry’s holdings past $2 trillion..."

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"Wall Street’s Buying Less of Those Risky Junk Bonds It’s Selling"

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --   By Lisa Abramowicz   --   Feb 18, 2015
"Credit trading just isn’t paying like in the old days. That’s why Wall Street dealers are putting less money at risk to broker the debt, and instead are matching buyers and sellers as much as they can before making trades. Dealers are only acting as middlemen for about 60 percent of high-yield bond transactions bigger than $2 million..."

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"Finding Losers From Oil Leads JPMorgan to Texas: Credit Markets"

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --   By Jody Shenn  --   Jan 13, 2015
"Wondering how far the drop in oil prices threatens to ripple across credit markets? Take a look at the nascent market for bonds backed by U.S. rental homes. Of the properties that were packaged into $531 million of such securities issued by Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust..."

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"Bond Funds Load Up On Cash"

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL  --  By: Katy Burne  --   Nov 30, 2014
"Large bond funds are holding the most cash since the financial crisis as portfolio managers brace for potential price swings and unruly trading ahead of an expected Federal Reserve rate increase in 2015. The top 10 U.S. bond funds by assets held an average 6.6% of their portfolios in cash at . . .

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"Bond Liquidity Isn't Dead It's Just Moving Away From Big Banks"

BLOOMBERG NEWS  --  By: Lisa Abramowicz  --   Nov 7, 2014
Amid all the craziness and volatility in U.S. bonds last month, a few telling data points emerged that reflect where the market is heading. As some measures of trading surged to records, those carried out by Wall Street’s biggest banks lagged behind. Daily trading of corporate bonds averaged $21.8 billion in

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"Liquidity Rules Coming to Wall Street"

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL  --  By: Ryan Tracy & Victoria McGrane  --   Sept 2, 2014
"WASHINGTON—U.S. regulators are opening a new front in their efforts to create a safer financial system with rules designed to ensure banks can survive a crisis without running out of cash . The new liquidity rules, the first of which will be voted on by the Federal Reserve."

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