You're 'Avin A Laugh!

New! New! New!

In FPM digests of a more concise nature than our regular exhaustive, earnest and expansive posts, we aim to share some of our anecdotal observations. Often these musing may have serious undertone; every wit has a degree of truth, it has been said.  "You're 'avin a laugh" is the header for FPM's series of future short posts based on media release;  'YAL!' is the abbreviation leading these shorts, of which the first one is:

YAL! - Consider this syllogism: Stock picking is not either a folly or a game, but professionally viewed as an incisive active asset management expertise. Mitt Romney's stock, at least in the field of politics on Tuesday 6th November, suffered a blow-up or deal-break, as in the investment parlance! So those alternative investments illuminarie who stock-picked and publically backed M.Romney seemingly did not excercise incisive expertise! Or it was an innocent little folly with a vested agenda that had more economic upside than downside.

From either perspective these headline-assuming stock-pickers for US presidency and its assembly deserve some extent of mark-down or denigration [while they themselves and, by degrees investors, laugh all the way to the bank!]. If hedgies can short stocks, then in a similar manner they can also garner negative publicity through their publicised associations. Remember there are many donors who also choose to remain anonymous.

Name and Shame:

Anthony Scaramucci, founder of fund of funds firm SkyBridge Capital, was Obama's former Harvard Law School classmate and his supporter for the 2008 election . Recently, he's challenged the president for his administration's regulatory posturing toward Wall Street, and has switched sides. Mr Scaramucci has been holding fundraisers for Romney.

Others who've backed the political affiliations and aspirations include:

David Tepper - Appaloosa Management

John Paulson Paulson and Co.

Dan Loeb – Third Point

Cliff Asness - AQR Capital

Paul Singer - Elliott Management

Ken Griffin - Citadel Investment*

John Griffin - Blue Ridge Capital*

Julian Robertson - Tiger Management

Louis Bacon - Moore Capital,

Bruce Kovner - Caxton Associates,

Lee Ainslie - Maverick Capital

Ricky Sandler - Eminence Capital

*Verify if the 'Griffin' is a mix-up with John Griffin of Blue Ridge Capital

In FPM Research-Integrity based balance of power we like to highlight those that reportedly backed the eventual winning stock too.

Hall of Fame:

A Forbes magazine survey printed a list of the top 40 donors to the political action committees for both candidates, as the list stood at the end of September, and showed that only four hedgies gave $500,000 or more to Obama's Super PAC “Priorities Action USA”. Top donor to the left-leaning lobbying was David Shaw with $2 mn   :

James Simons - Renaissance Technologies

George Soros Soros Fund Management

DE Shaw -David Shaw

Marc Lasry - Avenue Capital

FPM's presidential stock pick was a deep out-of-the-money speculation on Ron Paul. Now that should solicit a remark like 'YAL' from the reader! That's not so bizarre, since Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Paypal fame also supported the Liberal outside candidate for Republican presidential nomination.

Its Friday afternoon in London in the week after the US elections and China's Party Congress. Lastly, a food for thought:

"Intellectual eminence carries with it corresponding moral responsibilities. The greater a man's talent, the greater his power to lead astray!" Bertrand Russell