On equities I am the least certain because there is currently no contrarian perspective. But I need to have some longs from the long term perspective - so I play it largely in Asia. Also on real estate, relatively speaking, I am in fact a bull - many companies are now sold basically for free just because public media is trying to persuade everybody of the doomsday scenario. It is enough to look around this board to see how well it works. People are not asking "what mortgages are reseting", "what did happen to houses in the past 2 years", "how do refinancing options look like", "how are primary loans distributed", "how are CDOs (residuals, equities) marked on Wall St", "what is the primary source of income/spending" etc etc etc. That said 2007 may not be the best year for US housing
"this obviously means they have turned their general portfolios and group positions into bearish scenario." "get short - pump the info out - sit and wait." I tend to agree with you. Who is the authors audience and what is he trying to achieve? What is the authors intent? First we have the "Boo!" phrases. "Recent market turmoil", then "economic expansions last five to seven years and now we are in our sixth" Do we have your attention yet?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "destabilising effect of new market participants, namely hedge funds and private equity" Maybe Citibank has an axe to grind with hedge funds and private equity?