Money and Finance
- 2013 Fairfax Annual Meeting Notes
A big thanks to Ben Claremon for taking and sharing these notes. Link to: 2013 Fairfax Annual Meeting Notes …………….. Related previous post: Prem Watsa's 2012 Shareholder Letter - Fairfax Financial ...
- Buffett Pulls Ahead In Wager Against Hedge Funds
Found via the Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax. It's halfway time in the 10-year stock market wager sometimes called The Million-Dollar Bet—that's Warren Buffett backing the performance of an S&P index fund vs. a New York money manager...
- Credit Default Swaps (cds) Are Insurance Products, Not Tradeable Assets - By Barry Ritholtz
Our story thus far: The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, sponsored by Texas Senator Phil Gramm as a favor to his wife Wendy (who sat on the Board of Directors of Enron, which wanted to trade energy derivatives without oversight) was rushed...
- Cfa Magazine Interview With Prem Watsa
Via Santangel’s Review: The CFA Institute Magazine includes a very interesting interview with Prem Watsa. Watsa remains bearish on commodities, equities, as well as the US and Chinese economies. He also speaks about his low-cost hedge against a deflationary...
- Fairfax Removes Hedges On Equity Portfolio Investments
Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited announces that it has removed the hedge on its equity portfolio investments by covering its S&P and S&P/TSX60 equity index total return swaps.- "During our third quarter conference call on October 31, 2008, I...
Money and Finance
Bear Bonanza
Earlier this year Prem Watsa, the gunslinging chief of Fairfax Financial (nyse: FFH), had $341 million riding on a hunch that dozens of brokers, banks and insurers could struggle paying their debts. Watsa has a history of making a killing on bearish bets. He sold half the company's stock holdings before the 1987 crash and bought puts against the S&P 500 before the index fell in 2000. But as summer began, his latest wager had produced nothing but losses.
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Then the credit markets seized up, and investors began clamoring for the Toronto insurer's collection of credit default swaps, basically insurance against bond defaults. Prices climbed. By the end of July Fairfax's swaps were worth $537 million, up 170% in a month.
- 2013 Fairfax Annual Meeting Notes
A big thanks to Ben Claremon for taking and sharing these notes. Link to: 2013 Fairfax Annual Meeting Notes …………….. Related previous post: Prem Watsa's 2012 Shareholder Letter - Fairfax Financial ...
- Buffett Pulls Ahead In Wager Against Hedge Funds
Found via the Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax. It's halfway time in the 10-year stock market wager sometimes called The Million-Dollar Bet—that's Warren Buffett backing the performance of an S&P index fund vs. a New York money manager...
- Credit Default Swaps (cds) Are Insurance Products, Not Tradeable Assets - By Barry Ritholtz
Our story thus far: The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, sponsored by Texas Senator Phil Gramm as a favor to his wife Wendy (who sat on the Board of Directors of Enron, which wanted to trade energy derivatives without oversight) was rushed...
- Cfa Magazine Interview With Prem Watsa
Via Santangel’s Review: The CFA Institute Magazine includes a very interesting interview with Prem Watsa. Watsa remains bearish on commodities, equities, as well as the US and Chinese economies. He also speaks about his low-cost hedge against a deflationary...
- Fairfax Removes Hedges On Equity Portfolio Investments
Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited announces that it has removed the hedge on its equity portfolio investments by covering its S&P and S&P/TSX60 equity index total return swaps.- "During our third quarter conference call on October 31, 2008, I...