New York stock Exchange Update, CNNfn.

Original Source: STREET SWEEP

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNNfn ANCHOR, STREET SWEEP: Our guest host today is Jim Hedges. We want to get right to the big question of the week we`ve been asking all of our co-hosts this week and that is what happens in the market once the Fed starts raising interest rates? Are markets already prepared for this?

JIM HEDGES, GUEST HOST: You know, I think that the markets probably are factoring in the fact that we`re going to see something happen before the end of the year. The order of magnitude is of course unknown. The problem is that interest rates are always overshooting and undershooting. And so I have a feeling there`s going to be this real, restrained progression with rate increases. But then, after the new year, after the election, I think we`re going to see a big backlash and I think people are expecting that.

ROMANS: The clients who you talk to, the people you talk to in the industry, a lot of folks think it will be 25 basis points, the Fed will be slow and steady in the beginning?

HEDGES: I think that is what I hear, but this is the great unknown. We`re prognosticating on something that nobody knows, except a very small group of people. And I think it`s guesswork, unfortunately. But I do think that there isn`t any doubt where they`re going and it`s up. And that`s got one thing spelled out for bonds. It`s got another thing spelled out for equities. And that`s why you`ve got to be looking at other stuff, other ways to make money these days.

ROMANS: Yes and that`s where the hedge funds come in. The first half of this year has been pretty rotten if you`ve been trying to make money in stocks because the major averages are essentially flat. Gold has done well. Airlines have done well. You know, you`ve got some gains if you`ve been in the oil stocks or crude oil type issues. What about the hedge fund arena? Has it been easier to make money in hedge funds?

HEDGES: Arguably hedge funds would be able to make money on the long and the short side. They`ve got a bigger group of strategies that they can invest in. But they`ve struggled, too, at the beginning of the year. Nevertheless, their strategies that they`re involved in like some of these turnaround strategies like distress bonds and investing in ...