Barclays Sells Stake To Middle Eastern Investors

In this Bloomberg News report, Barclays Plc said it sold a 32% stake to Abu Dhabi's royal family and two Qatari investors after the London-based bank turned down government aid.

The financial giant is parent to Barclays Capital, issuer of exchange-traded notes, and Barclays Global Investors, the leading ETF family in the U.S. The article notes that shares of Barclays Plc dropped 10% on Thursday to their lowest levels in two decades.

The fall seems to also be attributed to admissions by Barclays that its deal in October includes provisions that could require it to sell more shares at a discount to the group of Middle Eastern investors. 

You can read the story here.

The Plight Of Barclays & ETNs

This Wall Street Journal story running in the paper's Friday morning editions and on its Web site considers the plight of Barclays' latest woes in terms of the many ETN investors holding such notes in their portfolios. 

You can read it here.

Option Activity Jumps In ProShares ETF

Is the sell-off in government bonds about done? This report by Reuters explores the fact that options volume in a ProShares UltraShort Treasury ETF soared on Thursday.

An analyst notes that buying and selling activity in puts with February options expiration dates indicates traders are betting on rising prices and declining yields in Treasuries.

You can read the story here.

Huge Losses Causing Hedge Funds To Cut Fees, Overhaul Strategies

This enterprising Bloomberg News article contrasts the fact that hedge funds recorded record asset losses last year despite the fact that average investment returns by some counts wound up beating the S&P 500. 

Such clashing events are leading experts to expect in 2009 that hedge funds will slash fees and offer more transparency to investors. Interestingly enough, another comparison of corresponding data cited in the article points to a leading hedge fund index starting the new year way ahead of the S&P 500.  

Recovery Of Financials Still Not In Sight?

In this look at the plight of ETFs covering financial stocks, Investor's Business Daily markets reporter Trang Ho writes that the sector continued its fall on Thursday. 

That seems to suggest that the previous day's "monstrous rally was merely an oversold bounce and that a bottom has yet to form," she wrote.

You can read the story here.