Not much work happening in Chicago today with the pending Bears vs Packers showdown on Sunday….. but a few articles catching our fancy this week you may want to check out… Gold net Longs hit lowest since July 09 (The Big Picture) MF Global Settles Lawsuit Related to 2008 Wheat Loss (Bloomberg) Managed futures strategies […]
Category: Off Topic
21
Jan
2011
20
Jan
2011
How can $1.8 Billion be so wrong on USO, the crude oil ETF
Following our last post in which we mentioned how commodities were down in 2010 based on energy being flat and the problem of cost of carry/contango – we had a client asking us to update our chart on the spot price of Crude Oil versus the performance of USO, the ETF which is supposed to […]
14
Jan
2011
Weekend Reads…
What we’re reading heading into the long weekend (most markets are closed on Monday thanks to MLK holiday in the US) MLK-Day market hours: (CME) Forex Brokers Draw Scrutiny (WSJ) Manager Selection: Getting it Right (Financial Advisor) FBI Arrests commodities trader for threats against NFA, CFTC, FINRA, and SEC (CNNmoney) Food Inflation: Retail meat prices […]
31
Dec
2010
Palladium (+95%), Sugar (+92%) top 2010 commodities performers
With most markets having closed at noon (CST) today ahead of the New Year’s Eve celebration in the US, we’re able to take a sneak peak at the 2010 performance of 40 different futures markets via our favorite quote site: Finviz.com. Their list is a nice cross section of markets including stocks (5), energy (3), […]
23
Dec
2010
Reading for the long Holiday weekend
Here’s what we’re reading heading into the long holiday weekend (markets are closed tomorrow). 1. Saxo Bank’s 10 outrageous predictions – https://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010/12/20/442411/saxos-outrageous-predictions-for-2011/ 2. Doug Kass Surrpises for 2011 via Ritholtz – https://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/12/kass-surprises-for-2011/ 3. $39 Million hedge fund to trade based on Twitter posts…. https://www.businessinsider.com/new-hedge-fund-uses-twitter-to-pick-stocks-2010-12 4. It’s too early to be bullish Nat Gas – https://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2010/12/its-too-early-to-be-bullish-on-nat-gas/ […]
16
Dec
2010
CFTC moves closer to new position limits
While most people forgot about the clamor to limit speculation in commodities after the large sell off in commodities off all time highs in 2008 – the CFTC didn’t. Via Reuters, we learn that the CFTC has proposed a new set of limits, while caving on some earlier rules. View article here: https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSNLLGNE6Q120101216 What does […]
13
Dec
2010
Miscellaneous Managed Futures Reads
Some interesting articles we’re reading to open up the week: 1. Death of LaSalle St. From Emily Lambert on the Forbes blog, we learn that the Chicago futures exchanges may have ‘sold out’ to the large NY banks after fighting the good fight for so long in the exchange based vs. over the counter derivatives […]
10
Dec
2010
2 year anniversary of Madoff arrest
Tomorrow will mark two years since Bernie Madoff was arrested for what is now known as the biggest Ponzi scheme in history; with the US Trustee marking the occasion with a $19 Billion civil lawsuit today (read here). But what has changed since then? It doesn’t seem like a whole lot has changed….. Hedge funds […]
01
Dec
2010
The $100 Billion Forex Hustle via FT
With the backdrop of the planned FXCM IPO tomorrow and pending Gain Capital IPO – we ran into a good article from the ft.com/alphaville blog pointed out by Barry Ritholz on the Big Picture Blog today, mirroring what we’ve been saying for years – that retail Forex trading is a scam. (they use slightly more […]
01
Nov
2010
Busy week for futures industry in Chicago
It will be a busy week in Chicago for Attain and other futures industry participants with several conferences, meetings, and cocktail receptions overlapping this week in conjunction with the Futures Industry Association annual ‘Expo’. On tap in Chicago this week are: Annual FIA Futures & Options Expo – https://www.futuresindustry.org/expo-2010.asp CME Seminar: ‘Raising Assets in Latin […]
