The anvil is coming down…or will it result in some more money to uncle Sam ?

Bloom Energy Corporation $1,771,335 Secondary marketplace and direct from stockholder Provider of solid oxide fuel cell technology that generates power onsite from a wide variety of fuel sources
Chegg, Inc. $5,999,996 Direct from stockholder Online textbook rental company serving students nationwide
Facebook, Inc. $6,587,500 Secondary marketplace Leading online social network
Gilt Groupe, Inc. $5,499,250 Secondary marketplace and direct from stockholder Online shopping destination offering its members access to discounted prices on merchandise, restaurants and vacations
Groupon, Inc. $2,035,200 Secondary marketplace Online provider of daily coupons for various consumer products
Kno, Inc. $2,250,000 Direct from issuer Provider of education software, digital textbooks and social engagement tools for students
PJB Fund LLC(3) $4,000,000 Direct from borrower Debt investment linked until maturity to the value of Zynga, Inc., a developer of online social games
Serious Energy, Inc. $712,380 Secondary marketplace Products and services to make buildings more energy-efficient
SharesPost, Inc. $2,250,000 Direct from issuer Online marketplace for the exchange of private company equity
Silver Spring Networks, Inc. $1,101,430 Secondary marketplace Hardware, software and services that connect devices on the smart grid
TrueCar, Inc. $1,999,997 Direct from issuer Online automotive research destination
Twitter, Inc. $6,932,493 Secondary marketplace and direct from stockholder Short messaging platform
ZoomSystems $250,000 Direct from stockholder Automated retail vending machines

Recent buys:

Investment Details:

Since the end of the quarter ended September 30, 2011, GSV made new investments in a number of companies, including:

ZocDoc, Inc., a free online service for patients to find and schedule doctor and dentist appointments. ZocDoc’s investors include Khosla Ventures, Bezos Expeditions, DST Global, Founders Fund, Goldman Sachs, and Marc Benioff, Chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com.

Grockit, Inc., a leading social learning game provider. Grockit’s investors include Benchmark Capital, Atlas Venture and Integral Capital Partners.

The Echo Systems Corp., a social analytics and engagement platform that enables brands to extract insights from website visitors, reward their most influential customers and drive more revenue per user.

Control 4, Inc., a leading provider of the operating system for the smart home. Control4 investors include Foundation Capital and Cisco.

The investments completed since September 30th represent approximately $21 million in investments and 30% of GSV Capital’s Net Asset Value

(via NYT DealBook)

Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg NewsRay Dalio, the head of Bridgewater Associates, at Davos this week. Bridgewater is bullish this year on gold as a hedge against inflation.

The world’s biggest hedge fund is also one of the best performers.

Bridgewater Associates, which manages nearly $120 billion, posted returns of 23 percent in 2011 — a year when the average hedge fund portfolio lost 5 percent.

Against the backdrop of fear over European debt and stagnant global growth, the hedge fund, led by one of Wall Street’s more enigmatic titans, Ray Dalio, sidestepped the mess. The fund did it with bets on United States Treasuries, German bonds and the Japanese yen, according to people familiar with the firm’s investment strategy, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is private.

Such performance adds up. Over the last 20 years, Bridgewater had annualized returns of 14.7 percent, amounting to $50 billion of gains for investors. Over the same period, the Standard & Poor’s index of 500 stocks returned about 8.7 percent a year.

A big chunk of Bridgewater’s gains came in recent years, a volatile period that felled many funds. As the financial crisis wreaked havoc, Bridgewater notched positive, albeit modest, returns in 2008 and 2009. The next year, the firm had gains of 45 percent versus about 10 percent for the average hedge fund.

The firm has managed to post big numbers even as assets have swollen, defying conventional wisdom and industry experience. Investors poured money into Paulson & Company in recent years, after the founder, John A. Paulson, earned billions of dollars betting against subprime mortgages. Assets at Paulson topped $38 billion at the beginning of 2011, but many of his portfolios suffered last year, with one of the main funds losing 50 percent.

Bridgewater has been able to avoid that fate, in part, because it follows a go-anywhere strategy. The fund’s managers assess the political, economic and regulatory environments around the world, and then make bets using commodities, currencies and other assets.

“It’s become a more macro world,” said Charles T. Cassidy of Cambridge Associates, a consulting firm that advises more than 900 investors with more than $3 trillion in overall assets.

This year, Bridgewater is bullish on gold as a hedge against inflation. The managers are said to believe that governments will need to print more money to help reduce mounting sovereign debt, which could hurt the dollar but help gold. Bridgewater is also betting against the Australian dollar and several emerging-market currencies.

The success comes as Bridgewater finds itself under the microscope for its peculiar culture and odd rules. Mr. Dalio, a graduate of Harvard Business School, is a fervent disciple of radical transparency, a set of beliefs that preaches the pursuit of truth at all costs. For instance, midlevel employees can criticize top management if they think a certain market position is foolish.

In an embodiment of his principles, Mr. Dalio wrote a roughly 120-page treatise, called “Principles,” that is part diary, part philosophical musing and part self-help guide. New employees are required to read it, and it is available to the public online. Mr. Dalio, the son of a homemaker and a jazz musician, writes of his poor grades in high school and a subpar ability to remember names or grasp foreign languages.

Bridgewater’s office in Westport, Conn., has a Big Brother vibe, employees say. Overhead videocameras tape employees throughout the day. To root out problematic behavior, employees are subjected to withering critiques from co-workers. These sessions are recorded and, in the interest of transparency, anyone can pull a copy of the video from the hedge fund’s library.

Former employees say that while it can be an intense and unpleasant place to work, the intellectual environment is invigorating. Ideas are tested vigorously for their soundness. And employees are constantly pushed to improve their investment skills, even if that can be painful at times.

In the wake of some negative publicity that portrayed the firm as strange and inflexible, Bridgewater has begun an unofficial image campaign. Last year, Mr. Dalio appeared on CNBC, where he called the reports “a misunderstanding” and said they had “affected employment.”

Bridgewater also began conducting focus groups at Ivy League schools with students bound for Wall Street. Participants in the 90-minute sessions received $100 gift certificates for voicing their opinions on the firm. In true Bridgewater spirit, they were asked to be as honest as possible.

“Bridgewater has done an extremely good job with its culture, where they challenge each other openly to come up with the truth,” said Dick Del Bello, a senior partner at Conifer Group, a brokerage firm and hedge fund administrator. “Their track record over 20 years is pretty compelling.”

Kevin Roose contributed reporting.

Currently down 23%

Bloomberg LP employees are riled that the financial data giant is doling out lower-than-expected pay for 2011 despite a 10.5 percent jump in overall revenue, sources said.

The company, founded by Mayor Mike Bloomberg, said revenue rose $720 million, or 10.5 percent, to $7.59 billion during a tough year for its biggest Wall Street clients, according to an internal memo obtained by The Post.

The company, known for its ubiquitous financial terminals on trading floors, said it fell short of its own internal sales targets, to which employee pay is tied.

Read MORE http://trade.cc/advh

So to speak….

$14, 460 per

Full look

Source

The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) Reinstated as Neutral with $30 price target at Credit Suisse.
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) Started as Outperform with $32 target at Credit Suisse.
Celgene Corporation (NASDAQ: CELG) Cut to Hold on Valuation at Argus.
Cliffs Natural Resources (NYSE: CLF) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Equity One Inc. (NYSE: EQY) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Hartford Financial Services Group (NYSE: HIG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE: JCP) Raised to Overweight at Piper Jaffray; Maintained as Buy but raised price target to $49 at Argus.
Juniper Networks Inc. (NYSE: JNPR) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE: KIM) Cut to Neutral at Citigroup.
The Progressive Corporation (NYSE: PGR) Started as Underperform at William Blair.
Sandridge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) Started as Buy at Citigroup.
Synaptics Inc. (NASDAQ: SYNA) Raised to Buy at Needham; Cut to Neutral at Stern Agee.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Reiterated as Buy with $102 price target at Canaccord Genuity.
Vistaprint NV (NASDAQ: VPRT) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
ZOLL Medical Corporation (NASDAQ: ZOLL) maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Gapping up

SOA +38.4%, CPHD +18.5%, RIG +7%, INFA +6.6%, ELX +6.3%, STX +3.8%, KLAC +3.7%, QLGC +3.2%, AMGN +1%, AU +2.1%, HMY +1.8%, GOLD +1.4%,

BHP +0.7%, ABX +0.7%, EMN +6.6%, NEE +2.0%, NWL +1.8%, MO +1%,

Gapping down 

RVBD -9.8%, DV -8.7%, TNAV -8.4%, JNPR -7.9%, DK -6.8%, BVSN -6.4%, RMBS -4.4%, DX -3.5%, MXIM -3.2%, CYS -2.8%, CRUS -2.1%, SBUX -2.1%,

CHTP -1.7%, SYNA -1.3%, TSLA -3.2%, GM -2.5%, TM -0.6%, KIM -1.5%, IDIX -3%,  MCD -0.4%, BP -1.3%,

In Play

On the Wires 

Don’t smoke chemicals

This gives Eastman some exposure in the Asia Pacific region…

Stock is reacting negatively in pre-market trade….

Technically they beat on the bottom line, but …..

Europe crushed them 

Fairfax owns 26.85 million pieces of RIMM

The smartphone revolution is on

Listen to the conference call yourself for proof. There will be no debate.