Analysis: value traps hold back European equity recovery

 The prices of European banking stocks have fallen to their lowest level in more than 30 years. The banks are weighing on a further recovery of the European indices, which have too few ‘asset light’ business models.

Until 30 September, the return of the European banking index stood at -43.66%. Over the past three years, the return is -24.39% and over the past five years it’s -13.36%.

Analysis: the end of the short-sellers?

Have hedge fund managers just lost it? More and more leading managers are returning assets to their clients. The reason is the melt-up of the market, making it ever harder for short-sellers to identify profitable trades.

For example, this summer John Paulson (photo), who earned $15 billion from the collapse of the US housing market in 2008, known as “The Greatest Trade Ever”, announced his departure from the hedge fund industry. Others, such as George Soros, Stanley Druckenmiller and David Tepper, preceded him.