Brevan Howard Main Hedge Fund Posts Best First Half in a Decade (Bloomberg)
Brevan Howard Asset Management’s flagship hedge fund returned 3.9% in June, capping off its best first half since 2009. The Master Fund is up 9.3% in the first six months, building on a 12.4% gain in 2018, according to an investor document seen by Bloomberg. That kind of performance is helping fuel a turnaround for billionaire Alan Howard’s fund, which in May saw its first net inflows in five years.
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Trims Chipotle Stock Investment (Barron’s)
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management disclosed that it was trimming its investment in Chipotle Mexican Grill stock. Two of the hedge fund’s affiliates sold 80,000 shares of the restaurant chain on June 27 and 28 for a total of $58.1 million, or an average of $726.15 per share, according to a form Pershing Square filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Pershing Square L.P. and Pershing Square International Ltd. each sold about 40,000 Chipotle shares. Ackman’s fund now owns 1,782,710 Chipotle shares, a…
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Breakingviews – Elliott Pounced on the Wrong Booze Company (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) – Will that be Absolut or Smirnoff in your Cosmopolitan, Madame? Investing can be as simple as ordering a drink at the bar. But as with the after-effects of certain cocktails, the results can vary. Consider the stock market performance of the world’s top two spirits makers: Diageo and Pernod Ricard. Both have performed well since Elliott Advisors bet 1 billion euros that it could pressure Pernod into being more profitable and better run. Yet the activist would have done better with a chill investment in Diageo.
Hong Kong Hedge Fund Penalised by CFTC, CME (RegulationAsia.com)
Elephas Investment Management was found to have violated wheat futures speculative position limits established by the CFTC. The US CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) has issued an order filing and settling charges against Hong Kong hedge fund Elephas Investment Management for violating wheat futures speculative position limits.
Hedge Funds Taking Advantage Of Rise In Bond Prices (Seeking Alpha)
There is mounting evidence that hedge funds, and others, are benefiting greatly from the rise in bond prices this year. This is just further evidence that sophisticated investors take advantage of the government’s economic policies and reap large rewards from asset price inflation, when there is little general price inflation. The past fifty-five years have witnessed a shift in the focus of these investors as “credit inflation” continues to create incentives to profit from different cases of asset price inflation. And, these investors will continue to take advantage of government policies as long as the government continues to think it can stimulate the economy and produce faster economic growth.
Nordic Equity HFs Enjoy Best First Half Since 2015 (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic equity hedge funds gained 0.7 percent in June (82 percent reported), capping off their best first-half performance since 2015. Equity hedge funds, as expressed by the NHX Equities, were up 4.2 percent in the first half of 2019. Nordic equity hedge funds as a group trailed both local and global equity markets last month. Nordic equities, as expressed by the VINX All-share index, delivered a net return of 4.6 percent in Euro terms in June. The index includes all firms listed on Nasdaq OMX Nordic Exchanges and Oslo Börs. Global equities, as measured by the FTSE World Index, rose 4.3 percent in Euro terms last month. Eurozone equities gained 5.2 percent, whereas North American equities advanced 4.7 percent in Euro terms.
