Alternatives

1. Gold demand drops 34% as economy brightens

   Demand for gold has dropped by over a third year-on-year, despite a recent surrge in its price, as investors turned away from the safe haven investment and look for riskier assets.

2. Index Trackers Take Flight

   Stock market indices are tough for the average fund manager to beat. Over time, no more than a fifth of the world's managers have any chance of outperforming them.

3. How to get a job in fund management

   While UK unemployment hit 2.46 million last week, and unions objected to Lloyds Banking Group’s plans to let another 5,000 staff go, among London’s asset managers business is more buoyant, according to heads of human resource departments and recruiters.

4. Funds take off as investors return

   Many aspiring hedge fund managers were wringing their hands in frustration a year ago when seeking large backers. This year, many are rubbing their hands with glee, after at least 10 new funds raised $150m (€101m) or more.

5. Hedge fund fees face long-only threat

   Hedge fund managers' fees could be under threat from lower cost, traditional asset managers, who have begun launching more long/short funds in response to investor demand.

6. Swedish pay plans draw hedge fund fire

   Hedge funds reacted angrily today to suggestions from a member of Sweden's government that strictures around how managers are paid could be included in an already controversial directive to regulate their industry.

7. BlueCrest seeks new money for rejuvenated fund

   Plans by BlueCrest Capital Management to raise new money for one of its listed hedge funds have been boosted by the news that this fund has become the first in a year to trade at a premium to the value of its assets.

8. Hedge funds short the Sage of Omaha

   Short sellers have focused their attention on Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, with the number of the firm's B shares on loan increasing fivefold, as hedge funds look to profit from concerns over the industrial conglomerate's multi-billion dollar takeover of a US railway operator.

9. Balancing act pays off for funds

   During the ravages of the financial crisis last year fund managers might well have given up on their mantra that asset allocation minimises risk.

10. Going local --- In a shaky art market, collectors stick close to home

    From Michigan to Italy, contemporary-art collectors are passing on works by international art stars and skipping far-flung art fairs and auctions. This year, they're buying local.