Analysis: Top shorted U.S. stocks dive but funds fail to cash in
BOSTON (Reuters) – Stocks targeted by short sellers plummeted last year. The 10 most shorted stocks heading into 2011 dropped an average of 31 percent over the next 12 months. Some, like retailer Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), for-profit college company Corinthian Colleges Inc (COCO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and technology equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc. (VECO.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), lost closer to 60 percent.
So funds that specialize in shorting – selling borrowed shares and betting they will drop so they can be bought back at a lower price – must have made a killing, you might think.
Verizon vs Apple: A royal battle
By Aaron Pressman
The opinions expressed are his own.
Last week’s tiff over the Google Wallet app at Verizon Wireless may seem like just another minor dust-up among hardcore phone geeks. But the debate is an opening skirmish in a potentially huge battle, particularly if, as expected, a new iPhone model arrives that runs on Verizon’s high-speed “LTE” Internet service.
At stake is whether seemingly pro-consumer “open platform” rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission to promote choice and innovation on Verizon’s LTE network have any meaning at all.
New complex EFTs may face long wait for OK by SEC
PHOENIX, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Sponsors of U.S. exchange-traded
funds should not expect regulatory approval for more complex,
and higher-fee, products anytime soon, attorneys specializing
in funds said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, already slowed by
numerous rule-making proceedings from the Dodd-Frank Act, is
backing away from allowing more innovation in ETFs as
complaints about the funds’ impact on markets mount, according
to Michael Mundt, a partner at Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young.
Great artists steal, tablet edition
By Aaron Presssman
The opinions expressed are his own.
“Good artists copy, great artists steal.” – Pablo Picasso via 1994 Steve Jobs
Amazon’s new Kindle Fire tablet seems like the anti-iPad to many. With its chunky design, smaller low resolution screen and occasionally stuttering software interface, the Fire has been blasted by some of the iPad’s biggest fans. And they’ve predicted it too will end up on the growing trash heap of previous iPad competitors that arrived with high expectations only to be found selling on Woot for 75 percent off six months later.
HOW TO PLAY IT: High-flyer stocks crash back to earth
BOSTON (Reuters) – Investors who favor the fastest growing stocks, those with revenue and share prices accelerating far more quickly than profitability, are getting pummeled as one after another of their favorite stocks slip and fall.
That has hedge fund managers and other short sellers on the lookout for the next high flyer to take a dive.
Miller’s fall shows luck at play in investing
By Ross Kerber and Aaron Pressman
(Reuters) – During famed fund manager Bill Miller’s 15-year streak of outperforming the S&P 500, he was often held up as proof that stock picking wasn’t just dumb luck. It required skill.
But the streak ended in 2006 and Miller became a poster boy for the other side of the debate over the ensuing years, as miserable performance brought his once stellar record back to earth.
Analysis: Bill Miller’s fall shows luck at play in investing
By Ross Kerber and Aaron Pressman
(Reuters) – During famed fund manager Bill Miller’s 15-year streak of outperforming the S&P 500 Index .SPX, he was often held up as proof that stock picking wasn’t just dumb luck. It required skill.
But the streak ended in 2006 and Miller became a poster boy for the other side of the debate over the ensuing years, as miserable performance brought his once-stellar record back to earth.
Italy woes signal dangerous phase in crisis -PIMCO
NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) – Italy’s debt woes signal “a
new, even more dangerous phase in Europe’s debt crisis,”
Mohamed El-Erian, co-chief investment officer of top bond
manager PIMCO, said on Wednesday.
The European Central Bank can act as a circuit breaker but
can only be effective if its actions are supported by a host of
other measures, El-Erian, who helps oversee more than $1.2
trillion at PIMCO, home to the world’s largest bond fund, told
Reuters.
BlackRock’s Botein adds investor alternatives
BOSTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) – BlackRock (BLK.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world’s
largest money manager, wants to attract more customers to its
hedge fund, real estate and private equity offerings, filling a
void left by Wall Street cutbacks.
With investment banks curtailing proprietary trading and
buyout funds in the face of tighter regulation, money managers
like BlackRock are raising funds from clients to chase other
opportunities and raid the talent to exploit them.
Steve Jobs: Agent of change
By Aaron Pressman
The opinions expressed are his own.
It’s probably fitting that on the day Steve Jobs died the company he co-founded was vying for the crown of most valuable with Exxon Mobil, the legacy of an earlier titan of commerce, John D. Rockefeller. In the early 20th century it was Rockefeller who had the vision to remake entire industries and help modernize the U.S. economy while creating vast fortunes in the process.
Jobs’ legacy may become equally great. Starting at the dawn of the personal computer age, Jobs’ visionary moves at Apple rippled across the technology industry and helped ready the economy for the information age.
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