Goldman Sachs Flagship Hedge Fund Declined 5.7% in February By Jenny Strasburg http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a0boyascuB6o&refer=home April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Global Alpha hedge fund lost 5.7 percent in February, hurt by wrong-way bets on stocks, global bonds and currencies including the Japanese yen. The decline left the $10 billion fund down 2 percent for the year through Feb. 28, according to a letter sent to investors this week from Eric Schwartz and Peter Kraus, co-heads of New York-based Goldman's money-management division. Global Alpha, Goldman's largest fund, fell about 9 percent in 2006. It was the first decline in seven years and followed an almost 40 percent gain in 2005. Goldman's hedge-fund assets rose 48 percent to $32.5 billion in 2006, making it the second-largest U.S. hedge- fund manager behind New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to a survey by Absolute Return magazine. JPMorgan managed $34 billion at the end of December. Goldman spokesman Christopher Williams declined to comment. Hedge funds are private, largely unregulated pools of capital whose managers can buy or sell any assets and participate substantially in profits from money invested.
I think its getting nearly impossible for the larger funds to think out of the box. There really aren't that many uncorrellated assets or arbitrage opportunties when you are running 29 billion dollars. Today is a great example, the global markets just go back to doing the same trades. lower yen higher global asset prices.
From a lot of articles just scouring the internet, the 'professional' money managers have been taking a huge beating all year. Funny.
"Global Alpha, Goldman's largest fund, fell about 9 percent in 2006." Maybe it's my immature schadenfreude (pointing fun at GS, not my fellow pikers - I wouldn't want anyone here to lose $$$), but I did a hell of a lot better than losing 6% on 32 billion (loss of $1.9 billion) in February, in addition to the $3 billion they lost in 2006. Ouch.
gee---- last time I heard "schadendfruede" was from Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football. I sometimes wonder if he was meant as a cruel trick on football fans by high school English teachers
Really? I find myself using the word "schadenfreude" at least a couple of times a week. What a great word. It speaks volumes.
Schadenfreude is best described as "twisting of the knife after stabbing a false friend in the back." Nothing like the added pleasure of that twist even when the victim is knowingly beaten. The only additional one uppmanship is when as the victim falls to the ground kick the head hard or step on the chest cracking ribs. There are several words which don't translate into English well worth knowing. Schadenfreude is a good one.