Links of Interest - 12/1/08

Portable alpha strategies are providing pain for various state pension funds (see WSJ article). Even the PIMCO portable alpha fund is taking a hit. You can find additional details on portable alpha strategies here.

While hedge fund redemption requests have been strong in the US, the next wave of redemption requests may come from Asia, where many hedge funds have suffered worse performance than similar funds in the west (see The Standard, Hong Kong article). In comparison, Asian hedge funds are down 22.2 percent on average, compared to an average loss of 12.2 percent for all hedge funds. As a result, more pain could be felt for international investments.

Should Treasury go back to its original plan of buying MBS in a reverse auction? Some economist believe so (see NY Post article). Having the government receive common, instead of preferred shares, would also go a long way towards further instilling confidence in private investors - who currently see the government being unwilling to take the same risk they are being asked to take.