Hedge Fund Manager Trading Subprime ....... From The Long Side

Thames River fund, the same fund that made a small fortune (actually a large fortune) shorting subprime last year has gone long a few subprime assets that have been hit hard over the last year. The call is less about the quality of subprime, and simply a valuation play - the assets have gotten cheap with prices that are low relative to their expected default rates. With a few subprime securities trading at 10 cents on the dollar, the risk/reward is appearing favorable, but picking a bottom is difficult. Cheap assets can always get cheaper. Even so, it encouraging that some of the same traders and funds that successfully sold the market down during last year's credit fallout are beginning to take the other side. The smart money tends to buy when things look the worst, or at least that is what we are led to believe. I am sure there is also a little selection bias here as with other trades and asset classes, as those incorrectly predicting market tops and bottoms get filtered out. Regardless (easy for us to say), at least we are hearing of major players with large capital going long, signaling a potential shift in market sentiment for this area of the credit markets - a signal that if true, even if early, has much larger ramifications.