TABLE OF CONTENTS June 2008

MONDAY JUNE 30
Icahn's Competish
By Michael Martin
Sister Susan Mika is one of a group of religious activist shareholders who were raising corporate governance issues with companies before many had even heard of the concept. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
Cash is King
By Michael Martin
One thing you'll never hear from a broker is "let's go to cash for the next six months..." > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
Trading Bandwidth
By Michael Martin
This new "commodity" exchange would let telephone networks, mobile operators, satellite providers and other telecommunications companies trade capacity on their systems. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
Why Oil On Its Way to $200
By Michael Martin
A U.S. House of Representatives Resolution effectively requiring a naval blockade on Iran seems fast tracked for passage, gaining co-sponsors at a remarkable speed, but experts say the measures called for in the resolutions amount to an act of war. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
A Second Opinion
By Michael Martin
The popular tale holds that with the rise of long-only commodity index funds and increased interest in commodities from pension funds and other players, speculators must be to blame for surging oil prices and have probably been the prime culprit in the steep rise in prices for food and other commodities as well. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
Market Timer Partners With Giants

Tom DeMark, whose sequential market timing indicators have been increasingly utilized by traders across all asset classes over the past few years, is set to announce this week that he's selling minority stakes in his 14-year-old company, Market Studies LLC, to two of the best known hedge fund managers in the industry -- John Burbank and Steve Cohen. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
Rooms With A View

Private spas? Personal cinemas? Opulent safaris? A basketball court...in your room? Yes, when the trading man travels, he does so in style – and with a degree of indulgence that others might find, well, rather indulgent. Still, check into these international luxury digs, and you'll know you've truly arrived. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
BIS Signals 'Tipping Point'

How long is this trend of rising inflation going to go on before, like Icarus, its wings melt and prices come hurtling back down toward earth? If you listen to the Bank for International Settlements (which is now pushing for more “macroprudential” regulatory instruments – great word) it could be a lot sooner than you think. Check out its latest predictions in the report released today. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
US World Bailout, Part 867

Since it appears the host nation of the subprime crisis (uh, that would be us) is so far also getting the worst kick in the teeth, foreign investors are reckoning that, in addition to bailing out our banks, they might as well also start stepping in to help our airlines. Here’s how the eventual relaxation of U.S. airline-ownership rules could trigger a worldwide wave of cross-border deals in the next five to 20 years. (Yeah, we know that’s a wide swath, but you could still make a mint off it.) > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
Don’t Sell, Just Buy Cheap

While commodities are gamboling toward their best first half in 35 years, the sprawling losses in stocks and bonds of late (the worst in 14 years, according to Bloomberg) are leaving traders increasingly wary of a marketwide setback redolent of the bear market of 1974. Not to worry: keep the following tips in mind and you should not only be able to get through it, but possibly come out of it much, much richer. Maybe. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
Lehman: The (Used) Book

Short sellers aren’t the only ones making a killing off Lehman Brothers’s spiraling losses, it seems. Now, a bygone book by Ken Auletta, “Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman,” is offering up some get-rich-quick opportunities on Web sites Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, with some weird, unexplained price swings. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 30
More Trader Charges This Week?

It is a very depressing thing when the two highest-level Wall Street executives charged in the wake of the subprime crisis happen to be hedge fund managers. Even worse when government prosecutors, not content to tar and feather said hedge fund managers in public for several days on end, opt to pull together a second-round slew of indictments. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
Summer Showdown
By Chris Gillick
After enduring a brutalizing market session that left many of them pummeled, 16 Wall Street traders took out their frustrations in the ring as part of the Trader Monthly's Wall Street Boxing Summer Showdown, presented by Milus watches, the Solaria Riverdale, and Del Frisco's. Thankfully for T3 Capital's Jay Neu, who skipped yesterday to get ready for his fight, he did not disappoint his bosses in the front row after losing in last year's inaugural Trader Monthly event. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
A Deal is A Deal

The state's highest court on Wednesday sided with former New York Stock Exchange chief Richard Grasso in his efforts to throw out key parts of a lawsuit seeking the return of more than $100 million of his pay. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
Trichet & Buffett: Speculators Not to Blame
By Michael Martin
The head of the European Central Bank said Wednesday that he did not believe speculators should carry most of the blame for skyrocketing oil prices that have propelled euro-zone inflation to record highs. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
Sleeping with One Foot on the Floor - Bedtime with BTIG
By Michael Martin
Analyst Mike O'Rourke, Chief Market Strategist at BTIG had this to say about the Fed, Crude Oil, interest rates, and the Dow. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
Don't Buy the Dips
By Michael Martin
In a radio interview with Chuck Jaffe, Market Watch senior columnist, Franklin said the current situation is "the Mount Everest of housing bubbles," and noted that recovery from the last big real-estate bubble -- caused by the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s -- took 10 to 14 years. This one may take even longer, he said. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
Tops In The Bottom

Whether you live in New York or just visit a lot, this guide to some of the best venues in Lower Manhattan should never leave your pocket. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
Friday Levity: One Born Every Minute

You know that scene in the beginning of “Ducktales,” after they talk about how “Life is a Like a Duck Blur” when Scrooge McDuck is swimming in his vault of gold? That could be you. (Courtesy of Long or Short Capital.) > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
McCain Attacks Obama Over Gun Controls – With Gun

Nah. We are lying. We just wanted to type that headline, if only once. In fact, the following story has nothing whatsoever to do with this topic. We just wanted to get your attention so we might focus on something eminently more serious – and more tradeable. Beer. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
Lehman: Shoulda Kept The Money

All week long, we’ve been hearing about how Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld and President Herbert "Bart" McDade have supposedly said they will forgo their 2008 bonuses after the bank reported its first quarterly loss since it went public. This, we think, is touchingly magnanimous of them. Considering we’re talking about money that hasn’t even been made yet, we, in solidarity, are giving up all of our lottery wins, should we happen to remember to buy a ticket at the corner bodega sometime in the next several months and, of course, win. But a lot more interesting to us are the general reactions to this forfeiture from the nation’s No. 1 peanut gallery. And you know what that is… > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
As Dow Tanks, VIX Flashes More Portents

Looks like the most avidly followed volatility benchmark for U.S. equities is madly signaling more turbulence ahead. Use this indicator and perhaps you’ll escape the cross hairs of the storm. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 27
Antler-Crashing In The Kingdom

As crude oil futures shoot to a fresh record high above $141 a barrel in New York (prompting talk of energy-exploration companies drilling just about anywhere – not excluding celebrity-clotted LA and Beverly Hills) a scary debate is cropping up in the world’s oil capitol, Saudi Arabia. Inside the oil-rich nation’s titanic energy company, Saudi Aramco, two figureheads are now at loggerheads over what, exactly, lies in store. Is oil really running out or not? > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 26
New Boys' Club

At peek at how spa-frequenting Street denizens go long on beautification. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 26
LSE Rips Lid Off 'Dark Pool' Trading Platform

So what if NYSE-Euronext just ate Clara Furse’s lunch? The London Stock Exchange has bigger fish to fry. Unleashing plans to build a powerful, multilateral off-exchange trading facility offering equal access to securities in 14 European countries, a smattering of liquidity-seeking algorithmic trading strategies and all kinds of surveillance tools, CEO Furse is forging ahead – and doing so with a major U.S. bank-cum-collaborator by her side. More on the many perks of this new and momentous venture. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 26
Rumor Mill Churns Over HSBC-UBS Tie-Up

There’s some pesky scuttlebutt afoot pairing up HSBC with much-beleaguered UBS. Just enough to push up the stock of the latter a sizable percentage over the last 24 hours. But just how likely is a juggernaut Swiss bank, the pride and joy of its fellow countrymen, to be led so easily? > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 26
Buffett Keeps Up Patter

More chatter from billionaire investor Warren Buffett out today, with the S of O issuing dread pronouncements about “stagflation,” but in his usual Buffett-like manner. To wit: "I think the 'flation' part will heat up and I think the 'stag' part will get worse." Read on for the rest, including whether regulators will have to step in to bail out Lehman Brothers. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 26
New Rules To Raze Barriers Between US, Overseas Brokers

As the Bush administration enters its much-celebrated denouement (sorry folks, we are big fans of past Republican presidents – just not this one) the Securities and Exchange Commission is seizing the opportunity to float rule changes that would ease restrictions on trading with certain overseas counterparts and scuttle the nation’s heretofore over-reliance on credit ratings in a move that could forever alter its relationship with the rest of the world. Read on for the digest of what might change, and what won’t. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 26
Fed: Everything’s Cool, Honeybunny

Having made its anticlimactic rate decision, the Federal Reserve is not about to say (yet) whether it’s more worried about inflation than growth. But, being of at least a high school education, we think we have a sneaky suspicion which one it really has its eye on (we saw that comment on how ``upside risks'' to prices have picked up, Benny; can’t get one over on us). Still, the central bankers did their darnedest to convince us not to expect any more rate cuts in the near term. Near term. Whatever that is. So we are not expecting any cuts today. Or tomorrow. And maybe never, if you believe some of the commentary we’re seeing out there. Like this. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
A Tale of Two Hedge Funds
By Michael Martin
Hedge fund liquidations were up 20% in the first Quarter. There were also the fewest new fund launches since 2000 as nervous investors favored larger, more established firms, according to Hedge Fund Research -- HFR. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
Managed Futures -- Managed Expectations
By Michael Martin
At Tuesday's hearing on the three proposals, Sen. Susan Collins, R -- Maine, said she differed from her colleague Sen. Lieberman, on the attractiveness of the most extreme fix. It would prohibit private and public pension funds with more than $500 million in assets from investing in agricultural and energy commodities traded on a U.S. futures exchange, foreign exchange or over the counter. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
Commodity Boogey Man
By Michael Martin
On Wednesday lawmakers will hold their 40th hearing so far this year on the cause of high oil prices. Congress is looking for a culprit for rising oil prices. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
Almost Vindicated
By Chris Gillick
> read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
The Rising

From the ruins of that unthinkable day comes, at long last, a rebirth. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
How Much You’re Worthicus

More fringe musings today from Long or Short Capital: “I descend from a lineage that can be traced back to the Roman Empire, a time when men were men, women were women, and, sometimes, boys were women too. My forefather kept a meticulous journal on valuation of everything ancient Roman, knowing that such a journal would be a helpful guide the economic choices that his descendants would face…” > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
Doesn’t Anybody Want To Work For The Fed Anymore?

Maybe, but if they do, they’re going to have to wait. For the first time since the Fed Board of Governors settled on its current 7-member structure in 1935, the panel will have three vacancies. All because Congress and the Bush administration can’t get it together. As always, great timing, guys. But more important than making more fun of the U.S. government (and that’s gotta’ mean it’s really, really important) is how the Fed’s behavior might actually change as a result of this setback. Yeah, it’s that bad. So, here’s what bullets we may soon have to duck. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
Quoth Of Noth: Warren Buffett

Why sell anything to Buff? The Seer of Omaha, of course, has the answer: "You can sell it to Berkshire, and we'll put it in the Metropolitan Museum; it'll have a wing all by itself; it'll be there forever. Or you can sell it to some porn-shop operator, and he'll take the painting and he'll make the boobs a little bigger and he'll stick it up in the window, and some other guy will come along in a raincoat, and he'll buy it." Uh…so no porn shops, no guys in, ah, raincoats (whatever Freudian allegory that’s supposed to invoke). For more pearls from the plainspoken man of plainspoken words, plus excerpts from his recent Q&A session in Toronto, read on for the full Bloomberg story. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
Hedge Funds Go To War

And their inspiration? Elementary, it’s what is now being construed as the near-theft of that much-coveted U.K. oil-services company, Expro, by a private-equity consortium goodly enough to put its cards on the table early on in the bidding process. By contrast, the competing bidder, Halliburton (always known for playing by the book, heh heh) showed its hand only last Friday – but a superior hand at that, by 10p a share. Now everybody’s up in arms and in court, including a handful of major hedge funds with a financial stake in the outcome. Click here to find out who they are and which way the wind is blowing. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
Speculators Defended – Finally

So, just for chuckles, let’s picture this wonderful fantasy scenario where all speculators are thrown out of the commodities markets and only those taking custody of physical supply are left to trade amongst themselves, perhaps halving the number of active participants and utterly killing price discovery. If these physical traders ever find themselves hedging in the same direction (as they often do) who is going to take the other sides of their trades? Answer: not the government. Hence, these comments out today from one exchange CEO who has the presence of mind to speak before disaster strikes. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 25
Decline Of The Superrich…In The US, Anyway

For all you agoraphobes out there, get thee to a clinic quick and find the medicine that will get you comfortable living out east. And we’re not talking about the East Coast, either. We mean India, China or Russia. Brazil is also an option for any diehard southies. But other than that, you’re going to be hard-pressed, statistically and comparatively speaking, to transform yourself into a millionaire (if you’re not one already) while residing in the U.S. Not that it’s all about the money, but, hey, if you’re doing a good job, why not get properly paid for it? The latest on where to go to get the most bang for your buck. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
TCI Mystery Solved
By Chris Gillick
For our last issue, we printed a clarification of Chris Hohn's 2007 earnings. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
Role Model
By Michael Martin
John Paulson, founder of the Hedge Fund Co. Paulson & Co., believes the IMF's forecast for $945 billion in write-downs is too light...He believes the total will be $1.3 trillion. Here's what he had to say... > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
The Saudi Treasury
By Michael Martin
With oil prices nudging $140 a barrel, Saudi Arabia stands to receive a windfall this year of up to $400 billion, double what it earned from selling oil last year. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
CFTC Needs Physical (Crude)
By Michael Martin
CFTC has crafted a perfect witch hunt. In a campaign year PR show of force, the political rhetoric is flying. Their argument is that "there is a $35 premium in Crude Oil due to excessive speculation." > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
Calling All Jazz Fanatics…

Union Square’s Blue Water Grill – a much-trafficked haven for the hungry and overwrought of Wall Street – is kicking off a concert series tomorrow night featuring a lush dinner and an intimate performance by singer-songwriter Jonah Smith. Click here to find out more about how to get your jazz on. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
Beat Of The Street: The Cayne Mutiny

Bear Stearns's Jimmy Cayne was a living legend. Now his firm is on the brink of permanent hibernation. Where did he go wrong? > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
Introducing…The eBay Economic Indicator

As today’s news makes clear, financial pain can be measured through high energy prices, consumer confidence, housing slumps or even the mysterious ways of the Fed. Now add to the list: eBay sales of Bear Stearns Christmas cards (which, if signed by none other than “alpha-generator extraordinaire” Ralph Cioffi, would have put you back $76 as of this morning) Sears paraphernalia and diaper coupons. We only wish we were kidding. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
Dollar Sinks Vs Euro Ahead Of Reports

With U.S. consumer confidence seen falling to a 15-year low this month in one report and housing prices in 20 U.S. metropolitan areas expected to drop in April by the most since records began in another, the dollar is flailing. A sneak preview of why the trend is likely to continue, as the Federal Reserve gears up for its two-day rate-setting meeting. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
Wolfe On Wall Street

Excerpt today from The New York Times: Returning Monday afternoon to Manhattan from South Hampton on the Hampton Jitney, [Tom Wolfe, author of “The Bonfire of the Vanities”] said he was mesmerized by what had happened to Wall Street in the last year. “Nobody understands where the actual value is — and they don’t care anymore,” he exclaimed. More from the man who’s pronounced we “may be witnessing the end of capitalism…” > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
Bernanke: Will He Or Won’t He?

By expressing inflation and dollar concerns, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has raised investor expectations of an interest-rate increase as early as August. Ooops. Now what? > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 24
Oil: The Elephant In The Room

Real shocker here, the U.S. futures watchdog (the Commodity Futures Trading Commission) is disputing the findings of a Congressional study of the world’s leading commodities markets concluding that 70% of those trading key oil futures contracts are quote-unquote evil speculators. Given the CFTC’s historically cozy relationship with the industry, this is hardly surprising. What is surprising is that politicians still prefer to grandstand in favor of ousting speculators from the market entirely – the very traders who are crucially needed to keep the market humming – over doing something less drastic like, oh, we dunno, maybe raising the margins on energy trades? It’s certainly not sexy, but we can guarantee it would work like a magic tonic. Too bad the addled politicians can’t get their wits about them long enough to do something sensible. Even if that means more pain for everybody. Now a word from the brave hedgies who dared speak out. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 23
Don't Forget to Turn In Your Badge On the Way Out
By Chris Gillick
Longtime futures powerhouse R.J. O'Brien is closing down its NYMEX floor operations, according to the company. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 23
Family Planning
By Michael Martin
Carl Icahn's new blog went live last week and I loved the piece on Sandy Weil. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 23
The Surge (Part 2)
By Michael Martin
A quartet of Western oil companies are in the final stages of negotiating contracts that will allow them to return to Iraq, 36 years after losing their drilling rights to nationalization as Saddam Hussein rose to power. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 23
Trading Edge: Vision Quest

Resources and skill can take you far. But to reach your maximum potential, you need a long-term strategy. Here’s how. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 23
Crowd Pleaser: Female Nudes…And The FT

Finally, some genius hits upon the idea of bringing two of Wall Street’s favorite things together. Don’t believe us? You don’t have to. Check out the billionaires who are already snapping up these works of “art.” (Hello, Steve Schwarzman?) > read more

MONDAY JUNE 23
Nigeria To Saudis: That The Best You Can Do?

No wonder the plastics industry is scrambling for an oil alternative. The momentous, if hastily cobbled together, conference of oil consumers, producers, energy ministers and oil company chief executives in Saudi Arabia this weekend turned out to have more bark and less bite, as the world’s largest oil exporter’s move to pump more than it has in three decades was deemed ineffective by other events unfolding in Nigeria. Find out who is now no longer Africa’s biggest oil producer. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 23
Citi Sharpening The Axe?

After much incessant chatter word has it that, indeed, Citigroup may pull the trigger on the next wave of carnage for traders and bankers as early as this week, cutting its work force by a sizable percentage. Get your lowdown on all the down low here. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 23
Note To Specs: Watch Your Back

It’s already clear that position limits on trades will now be imposed by the U.S. on London’s ICE Futures energy market, which means traders can’t buy and sell as much as they want to anymore. That definitely hurt, but that’s not even the half of it: today, data is being released that shows just how much of the oil market is actually being controlled by speculators. And that revelation is adding fuel to the fire in the debate over whether speculative participants – hedge funds, pension funds and investment banks – will be henceforth banned. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 23
Chris Cox Gets Ears Boxed

The chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission is getting a bit of the Beethoven’s father from critics, as word spills out that while every other bigwig up and down the U.S. regulatory circuit dialed into the Bear-Stearns-is-screwed conference call, Cox hit the snooze button. Or so suggests The Wall Street Journal’s classic excoriation today. (Of course, it gives voice to Cox’s defenders, but only very weakly.) > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 20
Summer Showdown

> read more

FRIDAY JUNE 20
Card Shark: Special Situations

Ever notice that, every so often, when there's a patsy at the table or a no-brainer in the markets, a mere week's work can make your year? > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 20
Friday Levity: But Let’s Get Serious

What to make of those oddball companies that trade at 122 times on a trailing PE basis? What, indeed. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 20
Former UBS Exec Pleads Guilty To Bahhhd Things

But why should you care? Well, first, you might want to make sure he wasn’t your private banker, since he was allegedly helping at least one billionaire hide his earnings to avoid taxes. But even if you weren’t that one billionaire (ha, may we all be so lucky as to make enough to get ourselves in trouble with the government) Bradley Birkenfeld is, according to this report, going to do a lot more than that. At the expense of the non-ornithologically inclined, we’ll keep it real simple: ever heard of singing like a canary? > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 20
Lions And Tigers And Corn

Oh my. Hogs stranded on the roof of a barn in Oakville, Iowa? George Bush touring the Midwest making eerily familiar promises of financial aid (shades of New Orleans)? The National Chicken Council (yes, there really is an organization by that name) up in arms? And grains shooting to record highs as both floodwaters and energy prices, similarly, move skyward? An in-depth look at how what started out as a weather flap is now turning into a perfect storm. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 20
London Challenges France – Again

This time, it’s in the form of dueling rogue traders. While Old Blighty can’t hold a candle to the amount of coin lost in Paris earlier this year, it seems it can certainly give it a run for its money when it comes to bad timing. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 20
Icahn’s Blog Goes Live

After many false alarms, it looks like this time it’s for real. The much-awaited blog of bone-crushing billionaire investor Carl Icahn has launched. Now, you can look forward to no shortage of written tirades against the myth of corporate democracy and the apostasy of the lazy CEO. He also likes quoting Churchill. But, really, you have to see it for yourself. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 20
Bear’s Fallen Fund Managers 'Scapegoats'?

No sooner did former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi, 52, and Matthew Tannin, 46, get arrested and charged with conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud (not to mention insider trading in the case of Cioffi) than reporters started peeing all over themselves. Typically, you have one lead piece on a story like this in the WSJ or FT or Bloomberg, but we notice one of these has no less than THREE Anna Karenina-length pieces on this subject this morning, with no end in sight. That said, this is a story that every trader should read. Namely, it makes devastatingly clear how your private conversations, your secluded dinners, even your spouse’s personal e-mail aren’t safe from prosecutors and the SEC when they decide to go after you. Whether these men were guilty of any wrongdoing remains to be seen. But forewarned is forearmed. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Paulson: We're Not Done Yet
By Chris Gillick
Speaking at the GAIM International hedge fund conference this week, reigning Trader Monthly 100 #1 insists that we are not out of the woods yet in terms of bank writedowns. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Ex-Bear Fund Managers Arrested
By Chris Gillick
Matthew Tannin and Ralph Cioffi, former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers who once sat atop internal funds invested in subprime debt, were arrested outside their homes this morning. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Morgan Stanley Tier 3: Members Only
By Michael Martin
Morgan Stanley fired a trader who said that fiscal second-quarter results were dented after a trader at the firm's London offices incorrectly valued positions by roughly $120 million. Something is still rotten in the state of Denmark... > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Lieberman's Point Has No Futures
By Michael Martin
Joe Lieberman has three proposals that range from moderate to severe (some would say draconian) in terms of the effect they would have on who can play in commodity markets, and how. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
The Dubai Starting 5
By Michael Martin
A Dubai government agency said on Thursday it committed $250 million to a shariah compliant fund investing in a range of commodity hedge funds, a move that will open the way for other Islamic investors. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
I Can Has Cheezburger
By Michael Martin
...for $15, that is, if you're dining in London. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Wall Street’s Newest Distressed Asset: Traders

For Citadel, Tudor and at least 20 other top hedge funds, bottom-feeding is no longer limited to just asset classes – it’s also increasingly coming in the form of human capital. With even trading superstars getting scooped up for a song (hello, SPQR Capital founder Bertrand des Pallieres telling The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday "You benchmark yourself against the firms that started two or three years ago, and you get depressed") you have to wonder, how much do you really need to watch your back? > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Market Makers: The Wisdom Of Steinberg

Aided by two industry legends, here’s how Jonathan Steinberg transformed an ailing publishing business into an ETF juggernaut. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
The Cult Of Paul Miller

Out from Bloomberg: The moment of clarity for Paul Miller came during a July 2007 conference call by the management of Countrywide Financial, the biggest U.S. mortgage lender. Miller, an equity analyst at investment bank Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, had thought until then that the crisis in the housing industry was confined to subprime loans. (Skip to the end: He was wrong.) > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Quoth Of Noth

“The truth of the matter is this [is] pretty frigging brutal," says Colm Kelleher, Morgan Stanley's CFO, referring to the extremely rocky earnings report of one of Wall Street’s largest securities firms. An inside look at why almost everything that could go wrong for one of the world’s top banks, did. And what that means for its asset-management team. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
What Is A Speculator?

Wow, what a head-scratcher. Add that to the riddle of the sphinx, how many bubbles are in a bar of soap, and how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie pop…because that’s how U.S. senators are now viewing it. More terrifying insights into your tax dollars at work. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Map Of Money

Since the dollar has lost all credibility as the global reserve currency of choice, what’s that leave us with? Yep, you guessed it. And, even better, the FT has put together this interactive map of exactly who’s making it, who’s using it and, most importantly, who has the most left. (Hint: it’s all the scary countries…except for the U.S.) > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 19
Bear Traders’ E-Mail Targeted

To loosely quote one of our favorite media lawyers: “Do not send ANY e-mails about ANYTHING of even the slightest importance to ANYONE, ever. Because, if you do, no matter how long ago you wrote it, or how deeply you buried it, they will look for it, they will find it and you will be toast.” Speaking of toast, that assessment would probably apply to an e-mail from one hedge funder to another musing that certain investments in complex bond securities might be "toast." As this one did. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 18
Slim Pickens
By Michael Martin
World crude oil production has topped out at 85 million barrels per day even as demand keeps climbing, helping to drive a stunning surge in prices, billionaire oil investor T. Boone Pickens said on Tuesday. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 18
The Truth about Airlines
By Michael Martin
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission said the London-based ICE would have to comply with US rules on position limits. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 18
Two Scoops of Raisins
By Michael Martin
When the pitchman in the ad used to say "there are 2 scoops of raisins" in every package of Kellogg's Raisin Bran, he meant literally. The rising price of wheat, corn, and oats is making itself felt on the cereal industry, never mind the cost of transporting the cereal itself. Seems demand for cereal is inelastic. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 18
The Trade: Shell Game

In the burgeoning realm of SPACs, the worlds of private equity and securities trading collide – and major opportunities abound. Exploring the allure of the "blank check" bet. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 18
Population Control As A Financial Weapon?

> read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 18
He’s So In Cuba

Or maybe not. We understand from The New York Times that other good places to hide when you’re in seriously hot water (read: locations from which U.S. law-enforcement agents would have lots of trouble smoking you out) include Namibia, Bahrain, São Tomé and Príncipe and Guinea-Bissau, formerly known as Portugese Guinea. And one creepy posting on DealBook actually describes “people who will very quietly help you…like ‘witness protection’ for crooks.” All that aside, here’s why authorities now believe Samuel Israel III is not in a river after all, but on the lam. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 18
Steal From Goldman’s Playbook

As big banks get pummeled the world over, one mammoth securities firm is rising from the subprime slime to post a mere 11% hit to its profit in one of the worst quarters ever to sock itself to the brokerage business. So far, so good. But how did Goldman do it? If we told you, we’d have to kill you. But we can give you a hint: do not be averse to doing deals with a top hedge fund looking to offload its pesky SIV. Like this one. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 18
Burying The Hatchet, Sort Of

The mystery surrounding the death of Circle T Partners founder and TV commentator Seth Tobias may never be solved, despite the fact that Tobias’s brothers and wife have now come to an agreement to share his estimated $25 million fortune. According to the brothers’ lawyer, there’s no plan whatsoever to retract allegations made by the brothers fingering the wife for supposedly murdering their brother. But, he added, at the end of the day, everybody had to be practical. Indeed. > read more

WEDNESDAY JUNE 18
All In All, Not A Bad Bet

And for added measure, the wager’s on beer. It seems that Warren Buffett, who had the presence of mind to snap up 35.56 million shares of Budweiser-purveyor Anheuser-Busch Cos. by late March, stands to reap an estimated $600 million IF Belguim’s InBev manages to clinch a deal. No pressure there. It only happens to be one of the biggest proposed cash buyouts, ever. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Plausible Deniability
By Michael Martin
Clearly, it's good to be a senator, and it's good to be a "Friend of Angelo" -- as favored VIP borrowers were known at Countrywide. Of course, it's even better to be a Friend of Angelo if the public doesn't know about it. But now that they are handcuffed to him, none of the named claim to have spoken to Mozilo directly...plausible deniability. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Hedge Fund managers are Flight Risk
By Michael Martin
When you make an investment in a hedge fund, get a copy of the manager's Passport. If he's suspected of doing something, er, felonious, he's likely to bail Dodge like Samuel Israel III. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Don't Count on OPEC...
By Michael Martin
The world uses around 85 million barrels of oil a day, so an extra 200,000 is a mere 0.235% boost. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
According to Jim

For a guy known for his belief that there’s “always a bull market somewhere,” Jim Cramer sure is painting a bleak picture for Wall Street in this week's New York magazine. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
The Ask: Speed Merchant

Presiding over one of the fastest platforms in the business, how Lime's Mark Gorton is taking his quant edge to new limits. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Treasurys Gain Ahead Of Housing Report

It doesn’t take a crystal ball to safely assume that new-home construction fell in May (to be confirmed or denied in a government report out today) but what’s eating at the longer-term prognosis for bonds? > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Old-Fashioned Swiperoo: Hedge Funds Target Banks

Why banks are fast losing top oil analysts to that ever-naughty hobgoblin of global financial markets: the hedge fund. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Stock Market’s Hit Man

It may come with a silencer, but inflation can be a real killer. As a 39% pop in oil, 61% advance in corn and 41% leap in rice pushes the UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Index to a record high this year, here’s how much less companies in the S&P 500 are expected to earn in the latest quarter (and that’s just a sampling of the mayhem to come). > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Fed-Watching – Or Fed-Botching?

Traders now expect the Fed will be leaving interest rates unchanged next week – unless, for some reason, inflation burgeons beyond all recognition (which we’re not ruling out). But that’s not to say the U.S. central bank is expected to keep its powder dry indefinitely. A peek at what futures markets are already predicting for when the Fed meets again in August. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Inflation Update, Part 2,642

Feeling like you still don’t know enough about inflation? Utterly distracted while out golfing, yachting or getting your nails done at the metrosexual parlor because you just can’t fight pesky inflation thoughts? Waking up in the middle of the night with cold sweats, just burning for more inflation news? Well, have we got something for you. Freak. > read more

TUESDAY JUNE 17
Lambs To The Slaughter?

In 2005, hedge funds were in their absolute heyday, with record launches and cash galore. Less than three years later, however, the landscape has changed completely. Smaller and fallen hedge funds are being forced out, while the pituitary-gland cases that are Man Group, Och-Ziff Capital Management and D.E. Shaw increasingly flex their mighty muscles – even over the monster banks. Meanwhile, many traders with excellent track records are getting lost in the shuffle. Looking at the awesome rise of the hedge fund and the makings of what appear to be some very rocky times ahead. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 16
The Benefits of Speculation

Professional speculators who have survived this rigorous market test of profit and loss can be relied upon to forecast the future with far greater accuracy than any other conceivable group, including bureaucrats, politicians, marketing boards or swamis. --- Walter Block, The Freeman, December 1981 > read more

MONDAY JUNE 16
Emotional Intelligence & Risk Management
By Michael Martin
> read more

MONDAY JUNE 16
Performance: Automatic Rifles

With algo wizardry and relentless sales, here’s how Credit Suisse's Dan Mathisson and Manny Santayana are leading trading's arms race. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 16
Nearly Half Of Wall Street Bank Profits Vaporize

Got your Xanax all fired up? This week is bank-earnings week. And, as such, we feel it only fair to duly warn you that the carnage you are about to see may not be suitable for all viewers. You can’t say we didn’t try. So, without further adieu, an in-depth look at what’s expected and what’s to come. And yes, it’s all bahhhhd. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 16
Gazprom: Oil To Climb To $250 For 'Foreseeable Future'

At $250 a barrel for crude oil, food prices climb twofold (note corn’s record high at around $8 a bushel today). The U.S., Japan and Europe collapse into deep recession. Companies go bankrupt. Airlines are nationalized. And sport-utility vehicle sales dry up, as gasoline races past $7 a gallon. So envisions a story out today that bases its extrapolations on the forward-looking statements of a certain energy industry CEO. > read more

MONDAY JUNE 16
Commodities Kings: Stop Them If You Can

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are both poised to report some of the biggest earnings hauls of the world's top securities firms this week. They also happen to lead Wall Street in commodities trading, as crude oil futures target 30 record highs this year and everything from gold to corn raises the proverbial roof. Coincidence or psychic phenomena? > read more

MONDAY JUNE 16
Indictment Excitement

Federal prosecutors have been very busy. First, leveling the long arm of the law at Swiss bank UBS for improperly valuing its holdings (possibly) and now taking aim at two former hedge fund managers at Bear Stearns whose fall from grace last year marked the beginning of the subprime crisis (though, we are pretty sure, did not cause it). In the wake of the collapse of two Bear hedge funds run by Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin that cost investors roughly $1.6 billion, could criminal charges be filed as soon as this week? A bit on the downside of being a trader. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 13
CFTC Show & Tell
By Michael Martin
It's a time-honored Washington ritual. When the price of oil goes up, so does the blood pressure of politicians. And that means government agencies must do something, even if all they do is offer sympathy. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 13
Where are the Oil Company's Yachts?
By Michael Martin
Exxon Mobil Corp said on Thursday it is getting out of the retail gas business in the United States as sky-high crude oil prices squeeze margins. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 13
The Waiting is the Hardest Part
By Michael Martin
Prosecutors are seeking a long prison term for former Refco Inc Chief Executive Phillip Bennett when he is sentenced for fraud on July 3, the day before Independence Day. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 13
Reads: Other People’s Money

Our field guide to the care and feeding of the fabulously wealthy. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 13
Oil: Up 697% Since 2001, Trumping Dot-Com Bubble

That's the percentage gain since 2001, augmented by 28 record highs so far this year. Says Stephen Schork, president of Schork Group Inc., "There's nothing different between this mania, the dot-com mania, the real estate mania, the Dow Jones mania of the 1920s, the South Sea bubble and the Dutch tulip-bulb mania." Still, others are begging to differ. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 13
Dollar Narrows Gap To Biggest Weekly Gain In 3 Years

Things are really movin’ it and groovin’ it today: Indian inflation, climbing at its quickest pace in seven years, is bolstering the case for a rate cut, while two-year Treasury notes aim for their sharpest loss in nearly 26 years. And now for the lowdown on the not-so-mighty greenback, which finally appears to be ready to buck (no pun intended) its ongoing death spiral, thanks to, of all things, the G8. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 13
SAC: New Plot Twist

So, Ping Jiang, former star trader at SAC Capital, and his accuser, fellow trader Andrew Pong, who blew the whistle in the alleged hormones-taking, sexual-harassment scandal that rocked the hedge fund in recent months, have finally patched things up. Apparently, they will be striking out on their own to start a new emerging-markets fund: Ping Pong Capital Management. Wait…What? The accuser is Andrew Tong, not Pong? And there’s no indication of any truce afoot? Whatever. One of these guys is up to something. We saw it flash by on the Bloomberg. And mark us, once this is all over, we are still betting on the unleashing of the best hedge fund name. Ever. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 13
Art Of The Heave-Ho

Who couldn’t get it together – Microsoft or Yahoo? Well, it looks like it doesn’t matter anymore. Now that all the scuffling has finally driven Yahoo straight into the arms of Google – which has wasted no time in cementing an iron-clad pact hammering a wedge between Yahoo and Microsoft forever – here’s where the rubber meets the road. > read more

FRIDAY JUNE 13
Wherefore The Witch Hunt?

As commodities prices – particularly oil – shoot into the stratosphere, traders are less worried about whether there’s a bubble than about what harebrained schemes Congress might cook up to supposedly contain the situation. Last time we were on Capitol Hill, lawmakers were so flummoxed by the idea of weather futures that the conversation couldn’t move forward for almost three hours. One southern legislator (who will remain nameless, despite the fact he was leading the committee) actually fell asleep. Just imagine how these guys will handle dealing with this. Oh yeah, no need: just days ago, Senator Joseph Lieberman announced he would spearhead a proposal to ban large institutional investors from the commodity markets entirely. And that’s not even the worst of it. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 12
Three Magic Words
By Michael Martin
If you can't find a borrow, then get the Puts. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 12
Doctor’s Orders: Going Public

The great outdoors: a cure for the common workout? > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 12
Europe's Industrial Production Ticks Up

Very unexpectedly, we might add. And by nearly one percentage point. But this time Germany, Europe’s largest economy, had nothing to do with it. Read on for the two nations – historically branded as laggards – that are buoying the stats. > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 12
Nickel Pickle Sends Prices Sky-High

Wake-up call: The rebuilding of ONE BHP Billiton smelter furnace in Western Australia is enough to push prices into the stratosphere. (What is this, the oil market? Or is it even worse than that?) > read more

THURSDAY JUNE 12
Dollar To Make Like Dead Cat?

Whether the greenback’s perking up against the yen and the euro ahead of the retail sales report today turns out to be a dead cat bounce remains to be seen, but, if nothing else, the climb for the third time in four days seems to indicate an increased alertness to the possibility if another rate hike. Here, more details on what’s expected – and why.