What to make of Morgan Stanley's deal to buy hedge fund FrontPoint Partners, which hold $5.5 billion in assets? Well, it was no surprise that Morgan Stanley was looking for asset manager properties. FrontPoint certainly has a fine track record. But the value of the deal was not disclosed. Thus, there remains little insight to be gleaned about the value of hedge fund assets. Such assets are fleeting these days. Consider the fate of Archeus Capital. You have to think perhaps the terms of the deal were a bit more favorable to Morgan Stanley than they would have been say a year ago. All in all, buying a hedge fund is a bit like picking stocks or mutual funds. All you have is a track record and that is no indicator of future success. So it's a bit of a crap shoot, but this is Wall Street.

For more on the deal:
- Here's a MarketWatch brief