Life in the Financial Markets: How They Really Work And Why They Matter To You - Hardcover

Lacalle, Daniel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1118914872 ISBN 13: 9781118914878

Publisher: Wiley, 2015

Synopsis

An accessible and thorough review of the international financial markets

Life in the Financial Markets—How They Really Work And Why They Matter To You offers the financial services professional, and anyone interested in knowing more about the profession, an entertaining and comprehensive analysis of the financial markets and the financial services industry. Written by Daniel Lacalle—a noted portfolio manager with EcoFin and well-known media personality—the book goes beyond a simple summary and offers solid advice on the future of the global financial markets. This great resource also includes a review of effective strategies and forecasts the trends that represent potential opportunities for investors.

The book reviews the recent history of the financial crisis and includes information on hot topics such as derivatives and high frequency trading. An in-depth section on investment banking is written from the perspective of a successful practitioner and provides clarity on several complex and overly politicized elements of the banking system. The author gives an expert's perspective on the debt markets, monetary policies, and quantitative easing, and helps explain the various issues surrounding sovereign debt, the Euro crisis, and austerity versus growth policies. Comprehensive in scope, this resource also offers an analysis of investment styles, from hedge funds to "long only" investments, as well as an in-depth look at corporate communication and its impact on markets and investments.

• Offers an engaging and comprehensive analysis of the financial services industry
• Includes information on the workings of the global financial system following the economic crisis
• Contains a review of complex banking systems

Analyzes the various investment styles and answers the most common questions pertaining to investing

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Most of the economic news that reaches market participants is reactive: it only explains what has happened. What's more, this information is belated, filtered, often massaged and sometimes tainted by politics and social relations. In times of crisis "speculators" all too often take the blame for economic downturns both in the media and in political discourse.

Life in the Financial Markets offers financial services professionals, as well as anyone interested in the topic, an accessible and provocative guide to the functioning of the financial system. Written by Daniel Lacalle—a senior portfolio manager and contributor to the Wall Street Journal and CNBC—Life in the Financial Markets passionately defends the honesty, seriousness and above all the essential and irreplaceable role that financial operators play in today's economy. Lacalle also includes a diagnosis of the economic crisis, that may be considered by some as controversial, but which offers a hopeful and honest way out of our current problems.

Lacalle explores the recent history of the market and the financial crisis and touches on hot topics such as derivatives, high frequency trading, and investment banking. Viewed from the perspective of a successful practitioner, Lacalle provides clarity on some complex and very politicised elements of the banking system including the debt market, monetary policies, and quantitative easing. In accessible terms, Life in the Financial Markets explains the impact of, as well as the different issues surrounding, sovereign debt, the European crisis, and austerity versus growth policies.

Based on his experience, Daniel Lacalle lambasts some of the myths surrounding the activity of hedge funds and financial operators, offers his take on the causes of the current crisis and includes ways to resolve them. Among other controversial ideas, Life in the Financial Markets argues persuasively that traders do not act outside the law; access to the investor's pocket is not anyone's right, not even that of a government; liquidity alone is not enough to tackle the current crisis; consensus assessment poses a danger to the investor; and the currency markets always impose the fundamentals.

This important resource provides ideas and recommendations for negotiating the financial sectors and offers suggestions to investors for making their own investment decisions.

From the Back Cover:

PRAISE FOR LIFE IN THE FINANCIAL MARKETS

This work, originally published in Spanish, has been translated by Mark Lodge.

"Refreshing and transcending, all at once. In a world loaded with theoretical market opinions, we finally get a view from a credible market practitioner. Lacalle gets it because he does it, every day."
—Keith R. McCullough, Chief Executive Officer, Hedgeye Risk Management

"Accessible and easy to read, but also thorough and rigorous. This book will be an excellent read for anyone wanting to understand financial markets, monetary policies and investing."
—Lex Van Dam, Trader/Partner, Hamstead Capital

"Lacalle has used his first-hand experiences to give a dose of reality and demystify the markets and the hedge fund industry. He cuts through the jargon and has given insight into how the markets and the real-world economy interlink. Lacalle shows us that the key ingredients that led to the last financial crisis, ie huge debt levels, are still with us now and could set the scene for the next one."
—Steve Sedgwick, Host, Squawk Box CNBC

"Intimate, insightful, inspiring. Daniel Lacalle, a top commentator and fund manager, explains in layman's terms how financial markets actually work by adding his unique personal perspective. A page-turner."
—Francisco Blanch, Managing Director/Head of Commodity Research, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1118914872
• ISBN 13: 9781118914878
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320