Latest Memo from Howard Marks of Oaktree

Below please find the latest memo from Howard Marks of Oaktree. In the memo entitled, "Down to the wire" he discusses the need to increase the debt ceiling or suff disastrous consequences. He also takes the more realistic view that any solution will merely be a continuation of kicking the can down the road, rather than a real solution to the US’s fiscal situation.

Given the recent address by President Obama and the fact that this is really headline news right now - it is quite timely.

Enjoy.

Oaktree - 2011.07.21

Jeremy Grantham - GMO Capital - Farmland and Commodities Musings.

Jeremy Grantham of GMO Capital is out with a nice update on agriculture and commodities. In the letter he discusses his distaste for capitalism and his new found love in farmland. He continues his past theme of resource shortages and a desire to invest in them.

Enjoy:

GMO - 2011.07.25

Ivory Capital Management - Q2 2011 Letter

Below please find Ivory Capital Managment's Q2 2011 letter. Hat tip to Marketfolly for posting this. For those of you not familiar with Ivory - they are a long/short equity hedge fund that focuses on value-based investments. As you can see from some of their large holding they (like many) are gravitating towards large cap value (MSFT, C, YHOO, etc.). Ivory ended the quarter -2.2% which puts them at -1.85% for the year. They also give a nice updated on Western Digital (WDC), Seagate (STX), and Hospira (HSP).

Enjoy:

Ivory-Capital-Q2-2011

Third Point Capital (Daniel Loeb) - Q2 2011 Letter

Below please find Daniel Loeb's and Third Point Capital's second quarter letter. In the letter (aside from some killer quotes), he discusses the current economic situation, soem of their positions and their outlook. For the quarter they returned -1.6% which puts them up 6.8% for the YTD. The letter has an intersting discussion on Mosiac and an interesting updated on the CMBX short position.

Enjoy.

Third Point Capital - 2011.07.22

Gary Shilling presentation from 8th Annual Strategic Inevstment Conference

Below please find Gary Shilling's presentation from the 8th Annual Strategic Investment conference that was hosted earlier this year in La Jolla, California. For those of you not familiar with Gary, he is a market strategist who has made a name for himself with some rather accurate calls (2008 for example). In the below presentation he discusses the importance of the U.S. consumer (a key driver of the global economy), Japan and how its inevitable slow decline can be profited from, and shares some commentary on China as well as Europe.

Without further delay, enjoy:
Shilling-2011

John Taylor on Bloomberg and $1,900 gold

John Taylor head of FX Concepts was on Bloomberg earlier today talking about his belief that we will have a risk rally in which gold will rally to $1,900 per troy ounce and other risk assets will inflate as well. He then thinks we will fall into a recession worse than 2008. This echoes to a degree what a Ray Dalio at Bridgewater has said in that 2012 or maybe 2013 will be hard times. Enjoy:

Michael Burry Profiled on Bloomberg

Below please find the embedded video of Michael Burry's profile on Bloomberg Risk Takers. In the video he talks about how he started the fund. His investign style and other interesting tid bits. He talks about his bet against the subprime market and his relationship with investors. Nothign earth shattering but it is interesting to learn more about the man and how he came to be. Enjoy.

Notes recent from Paulson & Co Investor Call

Below please find a copy or a recent set of notes taken during a Paulson & Co conference call. According to Business Insider Paulson & Co is down 20.9% YTD. In the notes he discusses what is driving the underperformance (Sino Forrest, Financials, etc.). Talks about underperformance of gold miners despite gold being up YTD and also gives some color on the housing market and why Transocean (RIG) and Hewlett Packard (HPQ) are undervalued.

Enjoy.

Corsair Capital Q2 -2011 Letter

Corsair Capital is out with their Q2-2011 letter. Year-to-date their return is 6.2% which is a might bit better than most other hedge funds. In the letter they focus on some of their macro concerns and give position updates on Inophos (IPHS), Expedia (EXPE), Maiden Holdings (MHLD), KAR Auction Services (KAR), and Pae Oil & Gas (PCE). As usual their appendix includes a write up of an investment idea. This quarter's write up is on TNS Inc. (TNS).

Enjoy:

Corsair-Capital-Q2-2011

New Yorker article on Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates

The New Yorker is out with a great interview with the founder of Bridgewater Associates - Ray Dalio. In the interview he warns of issues of money printing and how we will be in for really hard times in 2012 / 2013. It is worth listening to Dalio as he runs the worlds largest fund with something of $80B under management (via mutual funds, hedge funds, and other strategies). He makes the argument that indebted countries like the U.S. will start to monetize debt - this is a pretty frightening thought and if true would lead to tought times in both the currency and debt markets. It is a bit lenghty but well worth the read.

Enjoy.


Ray Dalio _ the New Yorker

GMO - James Montier - Tail Risk

James Montier of GMO is out with another interesting thought piece. For those of you not familiar with James Montier he is a great value investing philosopher. And has written a good book on the topic, "Value Investing: Tools and Techniques for Intelligent Investment".

In his latest piece he discusses the obsession with tail risk and compares it to previous fads such as portfolio insurance. It is nothing shattering but overall its fairly enjoyable.

James Montier - Tail Risk

Steve Romick

Steve Romick of FPA Crescent Fund was recently on Consuelo Mack's wealthtrack. Steve Romick runs a go anywhere fund that has returned 11% + over the last 10 years. Needless to say he is pretty good at what he does. In the video he discusses his contrarion style and what he is currently avoiding (high yield bonds, distressed debt, and certain small cap stocks).

Pretty decent overall.

Jeff Gundlach on CNBC

Jeff Gundlach was recently on CNBC (unfortunately they stuffed Bob Pisani in front of him for about 30 sec.) discussing the ABX index and CMBX index and the current state of the fixed income market. As usual it is pretty interesting as he does a good job summarizing the state of affairs.

David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital Q2-2011 Letter

Below please find Greenlight Capital's Q2-2011 letter. As always David Einhorn (manager of Greenlight) pens a nice letter that gives a good update on some positions (Yahoo, Seagate, Xerox, etc.). He also provides some nice macro commentary. Without further delay.

Enjoy.

Qlet2011-02