The Stock Market May Get Cut in Half, But This ‘Most Undervalued’ Asset is About to Surge, Billionaire Investor Says (Market Watch)
Paul Singer, the hedge-fund billionaire behind Elliot Management, warned last month that the ultimate path of global stock markets is a drop of at least 50% from February highs. What’s an investor to do in the face of such a grim outlook? Load up on gold, perhaps. After all, according to a report this week from the Financial Times, that’s what the smart money’s doing.
How Carl Icahn’s Hertz Car Rental Got Dented (Bloomberg)
Forget cruise ships, for a sector that’s really suffering in the pandemic look no further than car-rental operators such as Hertz Global Holdings Inc. On Tuesday, the Florida-based company reached last-minute forbearance and waiver agreements with its debt holders to buy it time to deal with a liquidity crunch. Hertz now has until May 22 to sort out a problem that arose last month, when it stopped making payments on some of the cars it leases from a special purpose vehicle. Bloomberg News had reported that Hertz was preparing to file for bankruptcy protection unless creditors cut it some slack.
The Best Investing Stories of the Week: Market Strategies from Bill Ackman and David Rosenberg, Plus Loads of Stock Picks from Top-Ranked Managers (Business Insider)
It’s amazing how much can change in a week. Formerly red-hot stocks — having turned in their best month in decades — seem to be losing steam, while downtrodden oil prices are in the midst of a five-day rebound. As always, the Investing team at Business Insider is staying on top of these fluctuations and providing expert analysis and advice. Outlined below are the best stories of the week, divided into two categories: (1) expert recommendations and (2) stock picks.
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Union Wages Proxy Campaign to Unseat Two Alden Directors from Tribune Publishing Board (Chicago Tribune)
The union representing newsroom employees at the Chicago Tribune and other Tribune Publishing newspapers is waging a proxy campaign to unseat two board members representing hedge fund Alden Global Capital, the largest shareholder of the Chicago-based newspaper chain. In a letter dated Monday, the NewsGuild-Communication Workers of America urged Tribune Publishing shareholders to vote against the election of Dana Goldsmith Needleman and Christopher Minnetian to the eight-member board. A copy of the letter was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.
Mini-Mercer Building Mini-Breitbart In Mini-Bid To Reelect Trump, Start War With China (Deal Breaker)
It’s safe to say that not everyone at Renaissance Technologies agreed with former co-CEO Robert Mercer’s politics and successful support for Donald Trump’s successful presidential ambitions. But it’s also safe to say that Mercer was not alone in said enthusiasms in East Setauket. Indeed, coinciding with Mercer’s own return from semi-political reclusion following his exit from RenTech, we find one of his former protégés attempting, on a more modest scale undoubtedly reflective of his more modest Medallion investments, to replicate Mercer’s efforts to build a right-wing media empire. And while we can’t say for sure whether Huayi Zhang shares Mercer’s (alleged) beliefs on the separation of the races and the curative value of piss, he sure hates the Chinese Communist Party every bit as much, and has some other eccentricities of his own.
Hedge Fund Association names 2020 Global Board of Directors (Hedge Week)
The Hedge Fund Association (HFA), an international nonprofit trade and nonpartisan lobbying organisation, has announced the results of its 2020 Global Board of Directors election. HFA members re-elected Camille Clemons, Jennifer Keeney and Emily Slocum, and elected Jill Calton, Lauri Goodwyn, James Koutoulas, Alexander Reyes and Joshua Stone. All HFA Directors are volunteers serving for up to two consecutive three-year terms. Jill Calton, UMB Fund Services. Camille Clemons, Cohen & Company. Lauri Goodwyn, Seward & Kissel LLP. Jennifer Keeney, BNY Mellon Wealth Management. James Koutoulas, Typhon Capital Management. Alexander Reyes, Citrin Cooperman. Emily Slocum, GQR Global Markets. Joshua Stone, FundsLawyer PLLC.
Why Jim Chanos Bets Against Fraud and China (Bloomberg)
What do you do when you are a Wall Street cynic with a long history of identifying fraud? If you are like this week’s guest on Masters in Business, Jim Chanos, you launch a short-focused hedge fund. Today, Chanos is a famed for helping to expose some of the most famous financial frauds, including Enron, Baldwin-United and Drexel Burnham. His firm, Kynikos Associates, just celebrated its 35th anniversary.
Why Warren Buffett Bet on the ‘Big 4’ Airlines Against His Own Advice, Then Dumped them at a Loss (Business Insider)
Warren Buffett recently revealed that his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate sold its stakes in the “big four” airlines in April for a fraction of what it paid for them, and admitted the bet was a “mistake.” The billionaire investor must be kicking himself, as he’s been burnt by the airline industry before and warned many times against investing in it. He jumped back in because he predicted that people would fly more in the coming years, and the airlines would at least maintain their value and continue buying back shares, but the coronavirus pandemic shattered those expectations.
