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The article profiles Keene, New Hampshire-based Greek Orthodox minister and hedge-fund Amvona Fund LP operator Emmanuel Lemelson. According to the article, Lemelson considers himself a student of U.S. investor Warren Buffett and Amvona manages about $20 million while charging a 25 percent performance fee for investing in relatively unknown stocks. The article states that Lemelson's financial activities have been criticized by some in the Greek Orthodox Church. The article presents comments from Lemelson.

The article discusses the tendency of stocks that have performed either very well or very poorly during the year to continue their respective trends at an accelerated pace in the year's final trading sessions. Managers of mutual funds and hedge funds who must report their year-end holdings to clients often buy stocks that have performed well, driving their prices up, and sell stocks that have performed poorly, pushing their prices further downward.

The article looks at what investment professionals consider the key themes that may effect individual investors' decisions in 2007. Advice and warnings from the experts are provided. Topics covered include mutual funds, retirement planning, U.S. stocks, international markets, Asia, hedge funds, private equity, and bonds.

Focuses on the financial success of Jeffrey Vinik, who left Fidelity Investments in 1996 to run hedge-fund company Vinik Asset Management LP. Value of assets held by Vinik; Percentage increase in Vinik's fund in 2005, noting it has outperformed the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index and the overall hedge-fund business; Performance of Vinik's biggest stock holdings, including Legg Mason Inc., Google Inc., Nordstrom Inc. and Urban Outfitters Inc.; Indication of volatility within Vinik's portfolio; Differences between Vinik's investment strategy and that of other successful hedge-fund managers.

Reports that hedge and mutual fund managers are becoming advocates for direct investment into stocks traded on the local Chinese stock markets. Question of whether to buy Chinese stocks directly or to invest in China-focused mutual funds which raises a broader question for investors on the risks they are willing to take; Protection for investors on Chinese funds in the U.S. which is absent from the actual Chinese stock market; Evaluation of the risks which are immense; Reasons for the risks; Array of options for investing in China including mutual funds and ETFs, ADRs, H shares and Red Chips, Hedge funds, B shares, A shares; The pros and cons of each.

Reports that rich investors increasingly are skeptical about hedge funds and their performance, although they do not plan to pull their money out soon. Concern about the reliability and sustainability of hedge fund performance; Description of hedge funds as private investment partnerships mainly for the rich and institutional investors, and increasingly available to smaller investors; Reference to the fact that the funds make high stakes bets on stocks, currencies and other global markets, often using leverage to boost returns; Concern among ultrawealthy investors that fund managers will start drifting away from their publicly stated investment strategies in search of higher rewards.

Discusses how solid growth in November 2004 helped salvage a slow year of growth for hedge funds. Performance of hedge funds in 2004, through November; Reasons for the slow growth up to November 2004, including the instability of the U.S. dollar and energy markets; Comments by investment advisors on the hedge fund market's 2004 performance.