Ainda e sobre os Hedge Funds, muito na berra...

Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) has introduced a bill in Congress requiring regulators to study risks that hedge funds pose to the U.S. economy and to make recommendations about disclosure requirements for the big investment pools.

"Regulators need to explore hedge funds and the potential risks they pose to financial markets and investors," said Castle, a member of the House Committee on Financial Services. "Transparency in our financial system is important for market discipline and investor confidence." Castle's statement comes the same day that Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund Amaranth Advisors LLC said it suffered big losses on natural-gas investments and is eliminating positions in the volatile commodity.

In a letter signed by Amaranth founder Nicholas Maounis and made available to MarketWatch Monday, the fund said it could be down more than 35% for the year to date when the natural-gas positions are unwound. "We have met every margin call to date. We are in discussions with our prime brokers and other counterparties and are working to protect our investors while meeting the obligations of our creditors," Maounis wrote in the letter addressed to investors. Early last month, MotherRock LP, an energy hedge fund run by the former president of the New York Mercantile Exchange, said it was shutting down also after suffering big losses in natural-gas markets in recent months.

Hedge funds have drawn scrutiny as they have become more accessible to average investors. Last month, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox told a Senate committee that his agency' is working on new rules about regulating the private investment partnerships. He said the investor-protection agency won't appeal a court ruling overturning a rule requiring hedge-fund managers to register with the SEC as investment advisers. Cox also said one proposal is a new antifraud rule that would effectively look through a hedge fund to its investors. Moreover, the SEC's considering increasing the minimum income and asset requirement for individuals who want to invest in hedge funds, Cox added.

Castle's bill calls on the President's Working Group on Financial Markets to study the type of information that the funds should disclose to the public; the potential risks that hedge funds pose to markets and investors; whether hedge-fund investors are able to protect themselves from risks associated with their investments; the growth of pension funds investing in hedge funds, and other issues. Castle acknowledged Congress has few days remaining before the November elections but said he was confident lawmakers would produce hedge fund-related legislation within a year. "There's a lack of information available to people that have to make decisions," Castle said.

Voar como o Jardel: letra de Carlos Tê e música de Rui Veloso

Eu queria unir as pedras desavindas
escoras do meu mundo movedico
aquelas duas pedras perfeitas e lindas
das quais eu nasci forte e inteirico

Eu queria ter barra nesse cais
para quando o mar ameaca a minha proa
E queria vencer todos os vendavais
que se erguem quando o diabo se assoa

Tu querias perceber os passaros
Voar como o jardel sobre os centrais
Saber por que dao seda os casulos
Mas isso ja eram sonhos a mais

Conta-me os teus truques e fintas
Sera que os "Nikes" fazem voar
Diz-me o que sabes e nao me mintas
ao menos em ti posso confiar

Agora diz-me agora o que aprendeste
De tanto saltar muros e fronteiras
Olha para mim e ve como cresceste
Com a forca bruta das trepadeiras

Põe aqui a mao e sente o deserto
Cheio de culpas que nao sao minhas
E ainda que nada à volta bata certo
Juro ganhar o jogo sem espinhas

Tu querias perceber os passaros
Voar como o jardel sobre os centrais
Saber por que dao seda os casulos
Mas isso ja eram sonhos a mais

Economic Risk - US Downturn Won't Derail World Economy

A sharp slowdown in the U.S. economy in 2007 is unlikely to drag the rest of the global economy down with it, according to a research report by Merrill Lynch's global economic team. The good news is that there are strong sources of growth outside the U.S. that should prove resilient to a consumer-led U.S. slowdown.

(Fonte: the risk center´s risk alert daily digest)

Conferência da MSI em Lisboa

Decorreu estas terça e quarta-feiras, em Lisboa, no Hotel Meridien, uma Conferência do MSI (Marketing Science Institute).

Elevado nível académico e intelectual, debates vivos, apresentações agradáveis e com o powerpoint reduzido ao mínimo indispensável.

Em breve daremos mais notas sobre a Conferência, que este vosso escriba é dos relatores.

Marketing Metrics and Financial Performance

It is said that at least half of all advertising spending is ineffective, that up to 80% of new-product initiatives fail commercially, and that 85% of sales promotions lose money. Such sobering statistics invite a deeper examination of the productivity of marketing investments, especially as they impact customer attitudes and financial performance.
Newly developed marketing metrics and an abundance of good customer and marketing data provide the opportunity for improved marketing practice going forward. However, the data and the metrics do not suffice. We also need to know how the metrics relate to each other, and how marketing investments impact these metrics in different ways. For example, do increases in sales always correspond to increases in brand equity or in customer equity? If not, what are the tradeoffs between them? This conference will explore these and other issues including:
How do customer metrics relate to business performance? Which customer metrics should CFO’s and CMO’s be responsive to?
How do marketing mix models help clarify the all-important connection between marketing spending and business performance?
How do we integrate customer metrics, marketing ROI and financial performance?

(from Marketing Science Institute; http://www.msi.org/msi/meetings.cfm)