Is Brazil the next big thing for private equity?

Latin America has long been the final frontier for private equity, but its time may have finally arrived. Just look at what's happening in Brazil.

When I first began covering private equity, my newsletter had a stringer covering Latin America. Then came the Argentinian debt crisis, followed by the rapid emergence of markets like India, China and the Middle East. We had to let her go.

More than a decade later, Latin America's eclipse may be MORE

SEC sues ex-State Street execs in subprime scam

Securities regulators charged two former State Street execs with ripping off investors in a subprime fraud scam.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said John Flannery and James Hopkins sold a State Street (STT) bond fund to investors as an alternative to supposedly safe money market funds. But by 2007, the agency said, the fund was invested almost entirely in subprime mortgage-backed securities and derivatives whose value collapsed when the markets for MORE

Where's gold headed? Just ask silver.

The price of gold seems to have no limit, but recent movement in the price of silver points to a potential end to gold's rally.

For a peek into the future of the price of gold, look no further than its precious metal sibling, silver. The poor man's gold has been on the same streak as the yellow metal, but recent moves have some of the most bullish players wondering MORE

AIG exit still distant for Geithner

This isn't the Fed exit plan everyone was hoping for this year, but it will have to do.

The government and AIG (AIG) restructured the terms of the giant insurer's bailout Thursday for the umpteenth time. The deal could let Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke more or less wash his hands of the AIG mess within six months -- which is probably just as well, since he has a few other MORE

Hedge fund giant bails on venture capital

Lots of market chatter this week about layoffs at hedge fund giant D.E. Shaw, with around 10% of the 1,500-person workforce being handed walking papers.

What hasn't been reported yet, however, is that the cuts included most of the firm's venture capital group, which has invested in such companies as Offerpal Media, WiQuest Communications, DesiHits and Adam Aircraft (big oops on that last one).

The issue, of course, is liquidity. D.E. Shaw MORE

Vanguard dethrones Fidelity

So much for this being a stockpicker's market.

Vanguard, the leading purveyor of mutual funds that track market indexes, has passed Fidelity Investments as the largest U.S. mutual fund company by assets -- dethroning Boston-based Fidelity after two decades as the top fund manager.

Vanguard had $1.31 trillion in assets at July 31, Bloomberg reports, compared with $1.24 trillion at Fidelity.

Why they call it the lost decade

The shift comes at a MORE

Private equity fund-raising on the rise

Busy putting together the daily e-mail (sign up here), but wanted to share some new Q3 private equity fund-raising data from Preqin.

The research firm reports that 81 funds held a final close in Q3, raising an aggregate of $57 billion. That's a small bump from the $49 billion in Q2, and Preqin says to expect a further increase "as further information becomes available."

Leading the way were U.S.-focused funds, which raised MORE

Pre-Marketing 9.30.10

* Bond Girl to Meredith Whitney: States are not like banks

* Danny Robinson: Banks may represent the next wave of funding for Internet startups

* Carlyle Group boss David Rubenstein on China: "I feel more welcome there than the halls of Congress."

* Morning Call: U.S. futures down ahead of GDP data, London falls early, European shares retreat and the Nikkei sheds 2%.

* Michael Arrington's road to millions

* Elizabeth Warren talks to Wall MORE

Is Wall Street Twice the Size it Should Be?

Denizens of the money-making capital of the world better brace themselves for more layoffs.

The door may soon stop spinning.

The big news yesterday for Wall Street employment: hedge fund D.E. Shaw laid off 150 employees, or about 10 percent of its workforce. The gigantic fund, which oversaw $39 billion as of mid-year 2008, is down to just $21 billion this year.

Did you notice the bad math? The asset shrinkage of MORE

CEOs sue to water down shareholder rights

Business leaders are saying thanks but no thanks to shareholder democracy.

The Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, the lobbying groups representing many of America's biggest companies, sued the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday to overturn a rule that ends management's exclusive lock on nominating corporate directors.

Leave that power here

The rule, known as proxy access and adopted last month, allows major long-term shareholders to nominate directors to a big MORE