Camden

Financials To Resume Meltdown Momentarily

Jason, I enjoy reading your commentary, but wonder about this comment: "J.P. Morgan issued a statement saying that trading conditions have substantially deteriorated since June. This will effect those financial leaders who have yet to be clobbered, like Goldman Sachs (GS). Ken Heebner, an investor who reportedly trades similarly to Goldman, suffered his worst month managing the CGM Focus Fund in July as he, and probably Goldman as well, expected oil to continue up to $200 a barrel" I

I've heard Hebner speak many times over the past year and never heard him say anything that would suggest he is or was a making any bets on the short term price of oil. He DOES believe oil will continue to dominate the world's list of needed energy resources and has made a big bet that Petrobras will be a big winner LONG TERM. That position in addition to one in Mosaic are what caused the major hit to his portfolio. From everything I've heard, Goldman's portfolio is MUCH, MUCH more balanced in terms of asset allocation and is not subject to the whims of the stock market. If anything, I'd guess Goldman's commodity trading is likely to be one of the reasons Hebner had a miserable month. I'd say they may well have been inversely correlated recently. Using Hebner's performance as a proxy for Goldman's is nuts in my opinion.