Transcript
Introduction
Patrick
Many of the most fun investing conversations are with traders and portfolio managers, because they live and breathe risk, day in and day out. Of course, they are often risking other people's money, but controlling real money in markets is hard to match. Theories and ideals can fade quickly, well laid plans often don't last. This week's guest is someone who has lived through his fair share of market highs and lows and I think you'll be able to tell quickly why I so enjoy conversations like this one. My guest is Danny Moses who is directly in the middle of one of the biggest trades in market history, chronicled by Michael Lewis in his book, The Big Short. Danny was the head trader on the FrontPoint Team, led by Steve Eisman, who along with a small handful of others, like Michael Burry and John Paulson, made enormous profits during the financial crisis, as they figured out, in real time, the disaster that was brewing in mortgage-backed securities and figured out how to position their portfolios in a way that would benefit from their insight. No easy feat.My conversation with Danny is multi-faceted, we talk about Danny's role in The Big Short, both the trade itself and the making of Michael Lewis's book. We cover the history and current state of sell-side research and how ETFs and other trends have made it difficult for traditional bottom-up fundamental managers. We even talk about Dominique Strauss-Kahn. To start this episode, I've pulled a piece from the middle of the interview, because I want to make sure that all aspiring asset managers out there hear Danny's answer about what he looked for when hiring an analyst. You can find show notes at investorfieldguide.com/Danny, and now, please enjoy this colorful conversation with Danny Moses.