You may have noticed that our fancy-schmancy new website displays all of our discarded news clippings and displays them on right behind this panel in our “news clippings” section (check it out right now if you like).  However, if you don’t have the time or inclination to click on every link you see in that section, then you’ll still find some value in our (semi) regular “newsreel” segments that provide you with a brief explanation about why we were drawn to each story.  If you’re interested in more of these snippets from the cutting-room floor, click on the “AAA Newsreels” in our Topics listing in the right column.  So, without further ado, here is this week’s AllAboutAlpha Newsreel…

US Managers Stem the Fall in Assets:  Investors checked under the sofa cushions and found a bit of extra change - just enough that “for the first six months of this year, unlike the largest European asset managers, the largest US investment firms have been able to stem their fall in assets under management.”

Low Returns Spur Big Cuts:  Re-use your paperclips everyone, “…while massive layoffs are still rare in the asset management industry, headhunters report that bonuses - with some exceptions for the top echelon of talent - and other incentives have softened.”

Large Cap Doldrums Drive Alternative Investment Quest:  Apparently turning their backs on plain vanilla mark beta, financial advisers are looking to products with a higher proportion of alpha in their returns - in this case, real estate, commodities and small caps.

JP Morgan Increases Allocations to Alternative Investments:  The firm’s private bank says equity allocations in discretionary accounts have dropped 40-80% in the past five years to between a quarter and a half of the typical client portfolio.  Now they’re roughly the same size as alternative allocations.

Touted 130/30 Funds are New and Unproven:  MarketWatch’s Chuck Jaffe rains on the 130/30 parade by setting up the following straw man: “…there’s a logical expectation that it will deliver superior performance in all market conditions.”

Appeal of 130/30 funds swell:  Hold the phone!  Investment News says “…the market continues to move in the direction of 130/30 strategies, with growing supply meeting growing demand.” 

Inflows to Emerging Market Hedge Funds Fall 72%:  Sure, emerging market hedge funds with a local presence in the region to better than those with no presence (see related posting).  But apparently, the whole category took it on the chin anyway in Q2.  

Who Needs a Hedge Fund Anyway?:  CNBC reports that hedge funds rock - as long as you’re a big institution.   Says one expert, “High net worth investors don’t get access to alpha managers.”

Regulatory Paranoia Means Hedge Fund Claustrophobia:  SEC xenophobia is resulting in hedge fund claustrophobia.  A crack-down on sharing investment ideas threatens one of the most cherished traditions of the hedge fund industry, the “best ideas dinner”.

Ivory Towers Showing Some Cracks:  After “blowing the bell curve” for the rest of the class for years thanks, mainly to alternative investments, US university endowments have finally lost some money.

US Seeks Delay of Civil Case vs. Bear Managers:  So much for civility!  Prosecutors appear to think their chances are better with a criminal case, rather than civil one.