Category Archive for: Investments

Finra Reflects on the SRO Model

Finra Executive Vice President, Thomas M. Selman, spoke at the Investment Program Association Fall Conference on November 15, 2012 and made some interesting comments.  (IPAFC)  I have extracted some of the better parts below. Here’s another pitch for Finra (and not the SEC) to regulate Investment Advisors: Despite the longstanding faith in the SRO model,…

Read More →

High Yield Debt Stats Flashing Sell Signal

New issue high yield bond issuance is a record highs, while non-investment grade yields are at record lows, Soberlook reports.  (Soberlook) This can only end badly.      

Shale Gas Bubble Evidence Continues to Grow

Geological consultant and energy expert, Arthur Berman, has an interview with Oilprice.com with some frightening observations.  (Oilprice)  The most sobering may be the following: A lot of investors from other parts of the world, particularly the oil-rich parts have been making somewhat high-risk investments in the United States for many years and, for a long…

Read More →

Master Limited Parternship Warning from Morningstar

Morningstar has issued a research note warning investors about the ALPS Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP).  (Morningstar)  The reason?  Hot money is flowing into this ETF because the industry giant, JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMJ), has hit its $5 billion asset limit and stopped creating new units.  This means AMJ is now a closed-end fund…

Read More →

Moody’s Master Limited Partner Research

Moody’s has come out with research on Oil and Gas bond covenants and has come to the conclusion that MLPs offer the least investor protection.  (Finanzen) “Our review of bonds issued between January 2011 and October 2012 showed that those of US midstream limited partnerships have the worst covenant quality,” says Andrew Brooks, Moody’s Vice…

Read More →

The Ghost of Enron Past? or FERC Comes a Calling

Dealbook, at the New York Times, reports that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) has launched investigations into many Wall Street firms for manipulating energy markets. (NYT) The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the government watchdog overseeing the oil, natural gas and electricity business, has lately taken aim at three major banks suspected of manipulating energy…

Read More →

Finra EVP Susan Axelrod on Complex Products and Suitability

Speaking at a PLI Seminar on Broker-Dealer Regulation and Enforcement on October 24, 2012, Finra EVP Susan F. Axelrod had some interesting comments on Complex Investments, the new Suitability Rule 2111, and Know Your Customer Rule 2090.  (Axelrod)  You can also see our previous coverage on Complex Products here.  Below are some extracts. Finra has…

Read More →

First Libor-Based Swap Case Filed in UK

Reuters reports that Guardian Care Homes is suing Barclays over Libor-based interest rate swaps.  (Reuters)  Although it is a small claim of $59 million, it has big implications and will be watched carefully. The article has one staggering fact: Britain’s financial regulator has estimated that about 44,000 interest rate swaps have been wrongly sold to…

Read More →

The Bubble in Yield Plays Continues to Grow

Nathaniel Popper, reporting in the New York Times, has a good piece on how individual investors are plowing into junk bonds just as they are getting more risky.  (NYT)  This continues the trend of yield chasing we have documented with our coverage of Energy plays in Master Limited Partnerships here. The scenario is simple, the…

Read More →

Implications of the Dodd-Frank Act on Private Funds

Henry Raschen of HSBC Securities, has a short piece at FTSEGlobalMarkets.com about the Dodd-Frank Act (“DFA”).  (FTSEGM).  Some quick take-aways: The registration requirement applies to US private advisers and non-US private advisers that advise funds with US investors; Many smaller non-US domiciled private advisers may have failed to register correctly; All registered private advisers with…

Read More →

Back to Top