And with that 3 percent hit in their markets over and done with, the markets in China are back at it again, and more accounts are being started.  What some may characterize what happened with the admonition of "dead cat bounce", just after the start of the New Year of Fire Pig, this market seems to have become a live feline.  Bears make money, Bulls make money, but Pigs (!) get slaughtered but we hope not Fire Boars. And  not also, we suspect if you're a big private investment firm cashing in with an IPO or a fund that's long Yen and volatility.

 Given that stumble, which would be mere stubble-length against the long beard of this post 2002 "bull" move, the sub-prime mortgage mambo seems also to have been forgotten, and hedge funds have stepped in to provide "liquidity". Amidst the "toppy" feel of things maybe we should pay attention to a real estate mogul like Sam Zell selling out to Goldman Sachs. We should pay attention as the top dogs in the private investment world, who make money taking public investments private, decide after protesting too much (in retrospect), to go public! Fortress Investment filed and went public and now Blackstone is doing the same. Years and years ago, it was a big deal when old white shoe investment banks would follow the young turk investment brokerages into public ownership. The last nail in that coffin felt like Goldman Sachs or Lazard, and it was a smart move. In house, they made hay and then made more monetizing shares in the house managing and brokering investment bets for the institutional and retail clientele who then funded their IPOs. Now that Hedge funds and LBO (excuse us, we mean Private Equity) firms have encroached upon each others' specialties, and began to steal both talent and business from those supplying back office services, it's their turn to debut and get rich off the customers' money.

" BUYING JAPANESE, I THINK I'M BUYING JAPANESE (YEN), I REALLY THINK SO"  (to the tune of that zippy 80s song)

 Will the real unfolding of the Yen Carry Trade please stand up? Yes, we volunteer a notion that the yen will move up this year, along with volatility associated with the opposite side of the book being unwound and positions being flattened or hedged. Volatility spiked and remained spiky. Risk awareness is elevated. We think this is a trend that will emerge, like it or not. Yes, the futures markets have changed their outlook regarding interest rates, and we also think rates may be cut however. That being said, we're long Yen (which is a long volatility play) even if the Fed sees red (a/k/a red hot inflation). If they don't cut rates, they'll almost certainly pump more money into the system as the teetering property markets continue their long, gradual regression towards the mean, and then overshoot it. This is the current view, and that could change of course.