Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (151604)	11/5/2008 4:55:48 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361761

Thiel's Clarium Hedge Fund Declines 18% in October (Update1) By Saijel Kishan Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Clarium Capital Management LLC, the hedge-fund firm run by PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, slumped 18 percent in October, its biggest monthly decline, because of losses on bonds. The firm's Clarium LP fund reported a year-to-date loss of about 3 percent, wiping out the 58 percent gain it made in the first half, according to estimates given to investors. ``Clarium is known for taking large risks, and their performance reflects that,'' said Patrik Safvenblad, head of hedge-fund research in Stockholm for DnB NOR ASA, Norway's biggest bank. ``Investors can get overly optimistic that periods of strong performance will continue.'' The $1.7 trillion hedge-fund industry is experiencing its worst year in almost two decades because of declining stock markets and a credit freeze that started with rising defaults of U.S. subprime mortgages. Hedge funds lost an average 9.26 percent last month and declined 19.7 percent this year, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc.'s HFRX Index. Clarium had 81 percent of its money in positions used by investors when they expect a widening spread, or gap, between bond yields, such as for 10-year Treasury notes and 30-year bonds. Instead, yield spreads narrowed in October. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for the San Francisco-based firm, declined to comment. Macro Investing Thiel, who manages $5.2 billion, trades everything from stocks to commodities, seeking to profit from broad economic trends, a strategy known as macro investing. Such funds lost 1.27 percent last month and have risen in value by 1.3 percent this year, according to HFR in Chicago. Clarium borrowed $4.40 for every $1 in equity capital invested as of Oct. 31, compared with $3.90 for every $1 a week earlier, according to the investor letter. Thiel, 41, started Clarium in 2002 after selling online- payments service PayPal to EBay Inc. for $1.5 billion. The hedge fund has gained more than fourfold since starting in 2002. Clarium isn't alone in posting steep losses in October. Passport Management LLC, the $3.1 billion hedge-fund firm run by John Burbank III, lost 38 percent for the month, extending its annual loss to 44 percent, according to an investor letter. The fund, which has returned an average 27 percent annually since it was started in 2000, lost money last month on commodity stocks. Mary Beth Grover, a spokeswoman for San Francisco-based Passport, declined to comment. To contact the reporter on this story: Saijel Kishan in New York at skishan@bloomberg.net Last Updated: November 5, 2008 16:17 EST

To: Cactus Jack who wrote (151604)	11/6/2008 7:14:59 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361761

Bonds' Lawyers Ask Judge to Throw Out Perjury Charges (Update1) By Karen Gullo and Erik Matuszewski Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Attorneys for Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball's home-run record holder, asked a federal judge to throw out several of the 14 perjury charges accusing the former outfielder of lying about taking steroids. Dennis Riordan, one of five attorneys for Bonds at a hearing today in San Francisco, said as many as eight of the perjury charges contained in an indictment were either redundant or were based on questions posed to Bonds before a 2003 grand jury that were vague and confusing. ``Were the court to grant all the counts, the government would be left with five or six counts that cover all the same ground,'' Riordan told U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston. Bonds was charged with making false statements to a grand jury in 2003 when he denied taking performance-enhancing drugs. He was originally charged last year with four counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice. A new indictment in May accused Bonds, 44, of 14 false statements and one count of obstruction after Illston said the original counts were flawed because they alleged more than one lie. Bonds has denied knowingly taking steroids. A trial is scheduled for March 2. Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Wilson defended the government's indictment, saying Bonds's answers to questions about whether he was given steroids by his trainer, Greg Anderson, were ambiguous. Wilson said a jury should be allowed to decide whether Bonds was truthful. `Same Lies' ``By repeating the same lies over and over again, by engaging in evasion of prosecutors' questions, Mr. Bonds is alleged to have obstructed justice,'' Wilson said. Illston didn't rule on the case today. Riordan said the government agreed to either withdraw one count alleging Bonds lied when he said he didn't take any steroids given by Anderson or refile the count in a new indictment. Bonds seeks dismissal of that count because it failed to say that the alleged false statement was material. That was a ``typographical omission,'' prosecutors said in court papers. They said they would refile the charge. Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Parrella declined to comment after the hearing. Bonds hasn't played in the major leagues since the 2007 season, the last of his 15 years with the San Francisco Giants. Bonds broke Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs in August 2007. Three months later, he was indicted in the federal government's probe of athletes' use of performance-enhancing drugs. The case is U.S. v Barry Bonds, 07-732, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco). To contact the reporters on this story: Karen Gullo at U.S. District Court in San Francisco at kgullo@bloomberg.net; Erik Matuszewski in New York at matuszewski@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: November 5, 2008 21:29 EST