Hedge funds come in many shapes and sizes. They operate many diverse investment strategies that seek to generate returns that are less dependent on the direction of traditional equity, bond, commodity and currency markets.

Merger Arbitrage (sometimes referred to as Risk Arbitrage) is a strategy that invests in the securities of companies that are party to a merger or takeover transaction.

  On 14 October 2011 I wrote that the the Seeds of a US Economic Recovery had been sown and that it lay in the export sector. The robust trend in US exports and the trade balance continues to take hold.

As a unifying currency the Euro has been pretty divisive. The comprehensive plan that Sarkozy and Merkel devised only a couple of weeks ago has fallen apart.

The latest plan for the Euro, for the European banking system, for Greece, Italy, Portugal and for the union itself, is unlikely to work.