Diary of a Hedge Fund Manager: From the Top, to the Bottom, and Back Again

EPILOGUE

It’s a few minutes before 8:30 A.M., Tuesday, June 2, and I’ m just about to sit down at the head of the table in our quaint conference A. room. My colleagues are assembled waiting to begin our Morning Call. Dozens of Portfolio Managers, analysts, and traders from around the buyside community who follow our research and pay us to be able dial into the call every morning are standing by. Some of our investment calls of late have not been exactly stellar. We missed a 2.6 percent move in the S&P over the past few days, although I still can’t justify making bullish calls with the U.S. dollar under pressure. But I also can’t avoid the obvious. I lean into the squawk box, and, turning up the volume, I just say it, loud, direct: “Okay, so we got our doors blown off.”

With the uncomfortable admission behind me, I continue on with my morning macro overview, delivering in rapid-fire succession a barrage of facts and factoids, takes and observations, glancing at my notebook now and again, but the material pours out because it’s burned on my brain and needs to come out. I cover currencies, countries, commodities—gold is a buy today if it’s down, but long-term I’ m selling if it goes over $1,000—and as I touch on rising oil prices and the weak dollar I move farther and farther away from my act of contrition, because as obvious as it was to call myself out, today is another day. I’ve been up since 4 A.M. going over world markets, price data. I’ ll forge ahead to get it right today. ...