Beware of Corporate Debt, Even Non-Junk, Says David Einhorn (AI-CIO.com)
David Einhorn sniffed out fixed income trouble in 2008 and sees more ahead in the US corporate bond market. In fact, the hedge fund chieftain is shorting corporate debt. So downbeat is Greenlight Capital, his firm, about corporates that it is betting on price tumbles for both investment-grade and junk-rated paper. And he points a finger at ratings agencies for going easy on companies that load on debt. Right now, of course, defaults are low for corporate bonds, both investment-grade and not. And bond issuance has been robust amid low interest rates. A good chunk of those new bonds are to fund acquisitions, whose debt is a burden going forward.
Morning Coffee: Top Hedge Fund’s HQ isn’t Necessarily Where You Think it is. Signs that the BNP/Deutsche Deal is Turning Sour Before it Even Happens (eFinancialCareers.com)
“Investors do now generally consider us to be London-headquartered”, states the most recent letter from Caxton Associates. Which might have come as a bit of a surprise to long-term clients, as once upon a time Caxton was as Noo Yawk as they come – nobody who remembers meeting their star portfolio managers of the 00s, Jake and Abe Eisenstat, who later left to found a fund called Dabroes (Da Bros, get it?), could have thought of them as in any way English.
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Why the World’s Largest Hedge Fund Founder Is Bullish on Gold (ETF Daily News)
From Mike Hammer: Ray Dalio is one of those people whom you either admire or ignore. While he doesn’t have quite the cult following of Warren Buffett, everyone who’s anyone on Wall Street reads everything he produces, because, well, when he’s right he’s RIGHT. As you probably know, Dalio’s firm Bridgewater Associates, was one of the few that did well during the last big market crash, in 2008-09.
Hedge Fund Manager Kyle Bass Says a US-China Trade Deal Can’t be Reached (CNBC)
Hedge fund manager Kyle Bass is doubtful a trade deal between the U.S. and China could be reached and believes the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts are less effective these days. “Every deal that the Chinese have signed up with us since their inception into the WTO since 2001, China never lives up to their promises,” the founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management said on CNBC’s Closing Bell on Thursday.
Citadel Alum Greg Blotnick Launches Brattle Street Capital (Opalesque.com)
Citadel alum Greg Blotnick is launching a new fund Brattle Street Capital. The fund takes long and short positions in small and mid-cap consumer stocks like retailers. Blotnick tells Opalesque New Managers that he feels like it’s an ideal time to take high conviction positions in consumer names. Small to midsize consumer companies are splitting into two groups – those that are generally recession proof and others that are teetering on the brink. Brattle Street’s long book will take positions in strong, high-growth companies. On the short side, Blotnick is taking positions in companies that are near bankruptcy.
Hedge Funds Need Not Be Gated Communities (The Epoch Times)
Some of the most lucrative parts of capitalist markets are off-limits to most Americans, not because of the money, but because of regulations. Investing in private equity, which includes high-performing vehicles such as hedge funds, is only allowed for the wealthiest among us: those who earn more than $200,000 annually or have a net worth of at least $1 million. Regular Americans have been unable to invest in some of the world’s most successful tech companies before they went public. Until recently, Uber, Lyft, WeWork, and other startups were the domain of so-called accredited investors, who make up little more than 8 percent of U.S. households. This select demographic owns 70 percent of private wealth in the country-$45.5 trillion.
Strategic Report on Hedge Fund Software Market to Grow Significantly by 2024 Focusing on Top Vendors – UpKeep Technologies, Eze Software (AMarketResearchReport.com)
Research N Reports has published an analysis of new statistical data titled as, Hedge Fund Software Market. The report scrutinizes the industry competence from distinctive angels which include types, size, application, and end-users. The report uses some significant techniques such as SWOT and Porter’s five analysis to examine the data effectively. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and India, and frontrunners ruling the industry in these regions have been examined on the basis of profit margin and investments.
FBI Suspects Tea Company that ‘Pivoted’ to Blockchain of Insider Trading (TheNextWeb.com)
Long Island Tea Corp was one of those companies that randomly added the word “blockchain” to the name of their business to seem cool (and maybe bump up its stock) – but it appears its name change may be more sinister than first thought. The Federal Bureau of Investigation suspects Long Blockchain Corp., as it is now known, may be guilty of insider trading, Quartz reports. According to a request for a search warrant, the FBI is also searching for evidence of securities fraud.
Friday 7/26 Insider Buying Report: CCI, EIC (Nasdaq.com)
At Crown Castle International Corp (CCI), a filing with the SEC revealed that on Tuesday, Director J. Landis Martin bought 16,300 shares of CCI, at a cost of $127.33 each, for a total investment of $2.08M. So far Martin is in the green, up about 2.6% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $130.67. Crown Castle International Corp is trading up about 0.2% on the day Friday. Before this latest buy, Martin purchased CCI at 2 other times during the past year, for a total investment of $3.35M at an average of $118.58 per share. And at Eagle Point Income Company (EIC), there was insider buying on Wednesday, by CEO Thomas P. Majewski who bought 10,100 shares for a cost of $19.89 each, for a total investment of $200,889. This buy marks the first one filed by Majewski in the past twelve months.
Insiders Roundup: Garmin, Best Buy (Guru Focus)
The GuruFocus All-in-One Screener can be used to find insider trades from the past week. Under the Insiders tab, change the settings for All Insider Buying to “$200,000+,” the duration to “July 2019” and All Insider Sales to “$200,000+.” According to these filters, the following are trades from company insiders last week. Director Jeffrey W. Bird and 10% owner Lightspeed Venture Partners X bought a combined 1,375,000 shares of Forty Seven Inc. (FTSV) for an average price of $8 per share on July 22.
Insider Activity: Large Investor in Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR) Buys $2.1 Million in Stock (Investors Observer)
Biotech Target N V, who already control 10% of shares at Esperion Therapeutics (ESPR), bought 50,000 additional shares of the company’s common stock on Jul 23. At $42.65 per share, Biotech Target N V paid a total of $2,123,565 for the new shares.
The SVP HR of Danaher Corp is Exercising Options (Analyst Ratings)
Today it was reported that the SVP HR of Danaher Corp (DHR), Angela Lalor, exercised options to sell 20,000 DHR shares at $46.13 a share, for a total transaction value of $2.85M. Following Angela Lalor’s last DHR Sell transaction on May 20, 2019, the stock climbed by 12.5%. In addition to Angela Lalor, 2 other DHR executives reported Sell trades in the last month.
Two Former Traders Admit To Engaging in Spoofing and Manipulation at New York Banks (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued two orders filing and settling charges against former traders at separate financial institutions who entered into formal cooperation agreements with the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement (Division) and admitted to spoofing and manipulative conduct in the futures markets. James McDonald, the Director of Enforcement, commented: “Today’s enforcement actions send a clear message that spoofing and manipulation in our markets will not be tolerated and that the CFTC will use all of the tools in its arsenal to aggressively pursue individuals and entities who engage in this misconduct. These cases also show that, where an individual has demonstrated a commitment to cooperate, and has cooperated, the CFTC may elect to postpone the assessment of the cooperator’s sanctions until the cooperation is substantially complete.”
