The foreign exchange market (Forex) is not an extra asset class but all asset classes together in the same market. It can be a real source of diversification and performance subject to a systematic, disciplined and rigorous monitoring.

Paulson & co and many other fund management companies have been caught by the markets after the revelations about Sino-Forest real wealth. Is it a lesson taught to the funds invested in shares of companies expected to capture growth in emerging markets ?

It is the conclusion of a paper entitled «The Changing Role of Hedge Funds in the Global Economy » written by Dr. Everett Ehrlich. He would expect more state and local governments will make them part of the solution moving forward.

The bubble to worry about is sovereign debt. Gold is the barometer pointing at how worried markets are about it and its consequences.

By announcing that it would no longer tolerate the CHF stronger than 1.20 against the EUR and highlighting that in its opinion the CHF was still overvalued above 1.20, the SNB signalled that it was prepared to intervene in the FX market to sell CHF in unlimited quantities…