Nearly 3,000 attendees at the 16th annual Schwab Institutional Impact conference, including some 1,900 advisors, heard Alan Greenspan on Nov. 6 laud hedge funds as "extraordinarily important" instruments that expose, then remove inefficiencies in the capital markets. Hedge fund managers' search for "niche returns," Greenspan told the audience at the Washington, DC, Convention Center, "stabilizes the system." Greenspan said the global economy "is in extraordinarily good shape," noting that he's "never seen an economy get into trouble when profit margins were rising."
Greenspan parried questions from Schwab chief strategist Liz Ann Sonders and Impact attendees after being introduced by Charles Schwab, who first praised Schwab Institutional President Debbie McWhinney for her work and inspiring enthusiasm. McWhinney had kicked off the conference by saying she had made two promises to Chuck Schwab at the beginning of the year: to beat cancer, and devise a new strategy for Schwab Institutional. "I've done both," she announced, going on to thank all those who supported her during her fight with breast cancer.
