Friday, November 2, 2007

Rogers Bets Against U.S. Investment Banks, Housing

From Bloomberg:

Jim Rogers, co-founder of the Quantum Hedge Fund with billionaire George Soros, boosted his bets against U.S. securities firms because of their salary ``excesses'' and money-losing investments.

Rogers said he increased his year-old short positions in the past six weeks in U.S. investment banks, using exchange-traded funds and bets against individual companies he declined to name. Stocks in the industry, which pays too much in bonuses, may fall as much as 70 percent in a bear market, he said.

``You see 29-year-olds on Wall Street making $10 million to $20 million a year, and they think it's normal,'' Rogers, 65, said in an interview in London today. ``There have been lots of excesses,'' said Rogers, chairman of Beeland Interests Inc....MORE

HT: Naked Capitalism