Posts Tagged ‘Amp’

JPMorgan ranked top of hedge fund list

JPMorgan was the richest hedge fund manager working in the industry at the close of 2009, a new report has shown.

Figures from Pensions & Investment revealed that the financial services provider managed a total of $53.5 billion of hedge fund assets.

By the end of 2009, JPMorgan Asset Management had $32.5 billion in assets while Highbridge Capital Management looked after $21 billion worth of funds.

The total was 18.9 per cent higher than the figure in its portfolio at the end of 2007, the survey revealed.

Bridgewate Associates was ranked second in the list with $43.6 billion while third placed Paulson & Co managed $32 billion.

Further findings from the study revealed that the total assets managed by the 11 companies quizzed stood at $316.2 billion, almost the same as the $316 billion in assets seen across portfolios at the end of 2007.

Alex Ehrlich, head of Morgan Stanley’s prime brokerage business, recently told the Reuters Private Equity and Hedge Funds Summit in New York that the number of hedge funds being launched is on the rise.

“We are seeing very, very strong hedge fund formation right now. The number of launches we are seeing are five times stronger than what we saw last year.”

Meanwhile, a survey by Hedge Fund Intelligence revealed that global assets for the industry reached $1.82 trillion during the second half of 2009.

Stock market appears set to gain ground this year

March 9 marked the end of a 17-month drop for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500, though the Dow closed at 6,547 and the S&P at 676. Since then, the Dow has surged 61% and the S&P 68%, and both appear set for a rally. JPMorgan Chase equity strategist Thomas Lee said the stock market’s stalemate is expected to be “resolved to the upside.”

Rhonda Breard and Breard & Associates Wealth Management

The firm is investigation potential claims against ING Financial Partners on behalf of former customers of Rhonda Breard and Breard & Associates Wealth Management.

Breard, who was registered with ING Financial Partners until February 10, 2010, is alleged to have vanished along with millions of dollars of her clients’ money.

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Two Arbitration Awards Against Morgan Keegan & Co. Bond Funds in One Week

A recent arbitration panel has awarded three holding companies over $1 million for losses sustained by investments in various Morgan Keegan & Co. bond funds. The funds in question were heavily backed by mortgage-related securities, experiencing a near total loss in the subprime mortgage crisis of two years past.

This is the second time in a week that an arbitration panel has ruled in favor of investors against Morgan Keegan & Co.’s bond funds.

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CME gets bigger investment from Brazil exchange firm

(Reuters) — BM&FBovespa, the world’s fourth-largest exchange operator by market value, has agreed to raise its stake in CME Group Inc. for $620 million and develop new technologies, in its biggest bet to date on high frequency trading.

As part of the deal, BM&FBovespa will increase its stake in Chicago-based CME to 5 percent from 1.8 percent, the Brazilian company said Friday.

The companies also agreed to develop new technologies for high-speed trading platforms for stocks, derivatives, currencies, government and corporate bonds, where investors will be able to buy and sell securities in less than 1 millisecond.

BM&FBovespa said it will invest $175 million over 10 years in the new trading platform.

CME and BM&FBovespa also formed a “strategic partnership,” valid for 15 years, to jointly look for partnerships and investment opportunities in other exchange operators around the world.

Transaction tax could cause volume to plunge, insider says

Thomas Peterffy, CEO at Interactive Brokers Group, said a tax on financial transactions could cause volume on the stock market to drop 90%. “The mother of all creators of havoc on Wall Street is this looming transaction tax,” Peterffy said. “Trading volumes would plunge by about 90%, markets would become illiquid and tens of thousands of people would lose their jobs.”

GEO hedge fund shut down by Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs has closed its Global Equity Opportunities (GEO) Fund.

The hedge fund, which was once deemed the organisation’s flagship investment vehicle, is thought to have shut during December of last year, an unnamed source told the Financial Times.

At its peak, GEO attracted up to $7 billion of investment but the sum dwindled to $200 million by the time it was closed by the bank, the newspaper reported.

GEO suffered during the start of the global financial crisis, losing an estimated $1.5 billion in the first two weeks of August 2007.
The fund traded in algorithms which were impacted by the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007.

Goldman Sachs, CV Starr & Co, Perry Capital LLC and real estate business man Eli Broad were among the investors who put together a $3 billion rescue package to keep the fund afloat.

The investment was eventually recouped but the fund never attracted the same level of interest following the losses of that period.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs recently unveiled results for the fourth quarter.

Profits of $4.8 billion were recorded by the bank in the period, which took annual earnings to $13.4 billion.

Options Traders Boost Bets VIX Will Jump 74% as Stocks Retreat

(Bloomberg) — Traders speculating stocks will fall boosted bets that the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index will jump 74 percent by Feb.

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Obama defends plan to charge banks to recoup TARP funds

In his weekly radio and Internet address, President Barack Obama defended his proposal to subject as many as 50 financial institutions to a levy to recoup the cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Obama also vowed to enact legislation that would rein in practices and strategies that caused the financial crisis.

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Citadel’s investment bank chief resigns

(Crain’s) — Citadel Investment Securities LLC has lost the man it hired a year ago to get its investment banking unit off the ground.

Todd Kaplan, who joined Citadel’s securities division in March, resigned Thursday, a Citadel spokeswoman said.

Mr.

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