Hedge Funds Gear Up for Another Big Short [H/T Will] (LINK)
Hedge funds are lining up to profit from potential trouble at some “alternative” mutual funds and bond exchange-traded funds that have boomed in popularity among retirees and other individual investors.
Financial advisers have pushed ordinary investors into those funds in search of higher returns, a strategy that has come into favor as Federal Reserve benchmark interest rates remain near zero. But many on Wall Street worry that junk bonds, bank loans and esoteric investments held by some of those funds will be extremely hard to sell if the market turns, leaving prices pummeled in a rush for the exits.
Andrew Ross Sorkin talks to Fred Wilson about creating startup hubs (video) (LINK)Concerns about such scenarios have been escalating for some time. Now, investment firms such as Leon Black’s Apollo Global Management LLC and Oaktree Capital Management LP are laying the groundwork to cash in if they come to pass.
Nut-Bashing Monkeys Offer Window Into Human Evolution (LINK)
A New Blue Marble - By Scott Kelly [who is also great to follow on Twitter] (LINK)