CFA Institute Conferences and Events

What Happened to the Quants in August 2007?

CFA Institute — Wed, 20 February 2008 12:52:00 EST

Andrew W. Lo speaks on the following: Events that led to the unprecedented losses experienced by quantitative hedge funds in mid-2007 -- The endogeneity of risk exposures in the hedge fund industry and systemic risk increases in recent years.

Liquidity, Leverage, and Risks to Financial Markets

CFA Institute — Mon, 12 Novemeber 2007 12:51:00 EST

James Grant speaks on the following: The effect of unprecedented leverage and easy credit on global financial markets and investor behavior -- The rise of high-rated structured products and re-leveraging of corporate balance sheets -- The ability of portfolios to weather potential financial storms.

The Liquidity Conundrum

CFA Institute — Mon, 12 Novemeber 2007 12:51:00 EST

Paul A. McCulley speaks on the following: Have financial market innovations created a shadow banking system and displaced Federal Reserve monetary policy as the key driver of U.S. market liquidity and money supply? -- Should institutional investors be concerned about excess liquidity and its ramifications for the U.S. dollar and other reserve currencies?

Unwarranted Intrusion: The Case Against Government Intrusion in the Marketplace

CFA Institute — Wed, 25 October 2007 12:51:00 EST

Martin Fridson, CFA, speaks on the following: The wisdom of politicians or the wisdom of the markets? -- The economic reality of government subsidies -- The problems with government programs such as those to provide jobs, encourage savings, provide affordable housing, or preserve farms.

20 Myths about Enhanced Active 120-20 Strategies

CFA Institute — Wed, 19 September 2007 12:51:00 EST

Bruce I. Jacobs speaks on the following: Do 120-20 strategies increase investors’ flexibility to underweight and overweight securities? -- How do the strategies compare with market-neutral long–short strategies? -- Are they significantly riskier than long-only strategies because they use short positions and leverage?

The Power of Prediction Markets

CFA Institute — Fri, 5 October 2007 12:51:00 EST

Justin Wolfers speaks on the following: How simple markets can aggregate and disperse information into efficient forecasts of uncertain future events -- The track record of market-generated forecasts, and market expectations about probabilities -- What prediction markets tell us about market efficiency and the collective knowledge of market participants.

In Defense of Indexing

CFA Institute — Wed, 3 October 2007 12:51:00 EST

Burton Malkiel speaks on the following: Behavioral Finance — helpful in explaining investor mistakes, but it does not lead us to abnormal returns -- Why the market will beat the behavioralist most of the time.

Why Commodities? Why Now? How? How Much?

CFA Institute — Mon, 23 July 2007 12:51:00 EST

Robert J. Greer speaks on the following: Behavioral Finance — Developing a commodity framework to aid in investment decision making -- Determining the drivers of return and risk characteristics for commodity indices -- Choosing investment vehicles to gain exposure to commodities.

Infrastructure — A Growing Real Return Asset Class

CFA Institute — Mon, 23 July 2007 12:51:00 EST

Mark A. Weisdorf, CFA, speaks on the following: Sources of risks and returns for infrastructure investments and the asset class as an inflation hedge -- Infrastructure financing and investment vehicles -- Outlook for infrastructure investments and determining the allocation.

The Art of Investment Leadership: Respect the Profession but Manage the Business

CFA Institute — Thu, 28 June 2007 12:51:00 EST

Michelle R. Seitz, CFA, speaks on the following: What do most-favored-nation clauses teach us about leadership, and how can leaders let stars shine in a team environment? -- Highly intelligent, staunchly independent, naturally skeptical, anti-authoritarian: can portfolio managers and analysts be managed? -- Pay for performance: are compensation formulas the key to success or the path of destruction?

Applying Modern Risk Management to Equity and Credit Analysis

CFA Institute — Mon, 18 June 2007 12:51:00 EST

Robert C. Merton speaks on the following: The effect of modern corporate risk management techniques in analysts' evaluation of intrinsic values and risk profiles of companies -- How inadequate analytical tools and over-reliance on accounting and actuarial conventions have led to systematic distortions of companies' economic risks and valuations -- The historical gap between credit and equity analyses and the forces for future convergence, including the use of derivatives.

Dealing with the Significant Deficiencies of Popular Bond Benchmarks

CFA Institute — Mon, 30 July 2007 12:51:00 EST

William L. Nemerever, CFA, speaks on the following: Structural problems: capitalization weighting, compositional drift, and representativeness -- Solutions to the problem: improving investment policies and bond manager guidelines while avoiding customization overkill -- Case studies: better ways to meet client objectives, and alternative approaches to the conventional performance measurement wisdom.

What Can We Learn from Neuroeconomics? How the Investing Brain Predicts the Future