The Gold Spot price remains safely tucked away in its longer-term upwards trend. Lately we have seen it gain some momentum to the upside and one has to wonder whether the perennial bull Jim Rogers will once again prove to be right regarding the soundness of commodities and the shortcomings of paper money. You have to give it to the Europeans though; they didn´t cave in until the last minute and there still seems to be some central bankers around (predominantly german ones) who feel that they should actually be independent and that their primary job is to ensure price stability (go figure). Although LTRO1 and 2 will give the European politicans some breathing room the underlying conditions remain unchanged. Cheap money does not accomplish much in the long run. But in the short run it has provided the commodities market with somewhat of a revival. Let´s have a look at Brent Oil, which is now once again reaching for the 2008 highs:

While all commodities do not show the same type of renewed buying interest, at least the “hit-that-bid”-followers have taken a break in most instances. Just imagine what an impressive pile of digitally produced cash can accomplish…

As we enter a holiday shortened week most market participants are feeling good about the situation. The jobs report on Friday is the most important peice of information investors are interested in scrutinizing. Richopedia does not expect trouble to be imminent. In fact we are expecting some additional strength in the near term. We do see a sell-off, but a little bit further down the road. We wouldn´t be surprised to see a market pullback beginning in the early part of May, but we don´t think it´s going to be a big move, just enough to create a stir and destroy the false sense of security we have grown accustomed to lately.

There is plenty to worry about, for those of you who are macro buffs. The US economy is making some headway, but the underlying condition is still dire. There is simply too much debt, and too little being done about it. The situation in Europe looks equally troublesome in the longer-term. While the LTRO 2.0 might have offset the inevitable and once again saved the day, printing money is a short-term solution to a longer-term problem. The structural defficiencies of the European Union have not changed, the underlying problems remain unaltered and it is only a a matter of time before they rise to the surface once again. On top of all this the Asian situation is not as jolly as it might look at a first glance. Japan in particular remains an accident waiting to happen.

We are not as bearish as we might seem. At the moment we are expecting some additional strength in global equities. Down the road we are expecting a sell-off, and we wouldn´t be surprised to see such a sell-off materialize during the first half of May. As for now we are expecting a dull and low volume week ahead of the holidays.

The annual top-earner list of Hedge Fund Managers “Absolute Return+Alpha” was interesting reading indeed. The year of 2011 was a difficult one for investors and many hedge fund managers across the globe were caught on the wrong side of some troublesome (european) macro news. The average hedge fund lost more than 2 % last year, but the hedge fund stars on this prestigous list were the exceptions to the rule. The 25 highest earning hedge fund managers on the list made a combined $ 14.4 billion during 2011, which is quite a feat. There were some superstars absent from this year´s list, including George Soros, Bruce Kovner and John Paulson- the man who was top dog of the bunch in last year´s survey (making $ 4.9 billion in 2010).

As we go through the list we recognize most names. It is a “who´s who” with regards to alpha management, and most of the participants are not first-time offenders with regards to being on this list. Let´s have a quick look at those who came out on top during 2011:

1. Raymond Dalio
The founder of the world´s largest hedge fund group Bridgewater Associates Raymond Dalio took home a whopping $ 3.9 billion for 2011. With an impressive gain of some 16.05 % for the firm´s biggest hedge fund “Pure Alpha” and additional gains on his personal assets under management Mr Dalio takes home the sweet spot on last year´s list.

2. Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn of Icahn Capital Management made a respectable $ 2.5 billion during 2011. The high-profile activist racked up an impressive 34,5% gross return for his customers during the year, making his spot on this list not only logical- he deserves it.

3. James Simons
The head of the “code breakers” at Renaissance Technologies Corp booked $ 2.1 billion in personal profit for the year of 2011. After less than stellar performace during the last couple of year´s Rennaisance is back with a vengeance, posting a 34 % gain for the year of 2011.

4. Kenneth Griffin
Citadel founder Kenneth Griffin netted gains above 20 % for 2011 and earned a neat $ 700 million for his troubles. Thus, Citadel has come back in style after a troublesome 2008 where the losses amounted to a hefty 55 %.

5. Steve Cohen
The founder and head trader of SAC Capitol Advisors raked in $ 585 million in personal profit during 2011. Cohen “only” made 8 % for the year, and yet he might be among the most impressive individuals on this list. He is known for his 50 % performance fee (the fund made 16 % gross) but more importantly he has an outstandingly consistent track record, making impressive returns for his investors for the better part of the last two decades.