Think Soros Is Right? Traders Chase 76% Returns Shorting Europe (Bloomberg)
George Soros says the euro area is in “existential danger” — and the world’s biggest banks are flogging a flurry of products to parlay his warning into tantalizing returns. Investors spooked by the record sell-off in Italian government bonds can pounce on structured securities to short the single currency or place more-modest bets that the economic recovery is on thin ice. And it can often be done for as little as a few dollars apiece. The “euro project is coming under pressure because of declining global liquidity and weaker reflation,” strategists at Macquarie Group Ltd. led by Viktor Shvets wrote in a note. “The ECB will be tested yet again.”
Pershing Square’s Fraidin to Join Cadwalader as M&A Lawyer (Reuters)
BOSTON (Reuters) – Stephen Fraidin, a prominent mergers lawyer who has been a top executive at billionaire investor William Ackman’s hedge fund, is joining law firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. The firm plans to soon announce that Fraidin will join its New York office as a partner, Cadwalader’s managing partner, Pat Quinn, told Reuters. Fraidin, 78, joined Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management as vice chairman three years ago after working for five decades as a Wall Street lawyer. He arrived at the hedge fund soon after Ackman teamed up with pharmaceutical company Valeant as it sought to buy Botox-maker Allergan when the investor looked ready to structure more deals that require intense in-house legal supervision.
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Hedge Fund Titan Dmitry Balyasny Nearly Wipes Out Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Micron (MU) (SmarterAnalyst)
Dmitry Balyasny did not become the leader of a $12 billion hedge fund without understanding the changes in the stock market trading game. Founder of the $12.6 billion Chicago-based hedge fund titan Balyasny Asset Management (BAM), Balyasny looks less confident on two chip giants to be money-makers. In the last quarter, the tycoon took a 95% whack to his position in Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and a 99% slash to his stake in Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU).
Billionaire T. Boone Pickens Earning an 11.7% Yield Here (IncomeInvestors.com)
Few people have made more money in oil than T. Boone Pickens. The billionaire oil tycoon grew up in Oklahoma during the Great Depression. From those humble beginnings, he went on to make a fortune in the energy patch. In the 1960s, Pickens got his start as a wildcatter. He branched out into different activities over the following years, working both as a corporate raider in the 1980s and hedge fund manager at BP Capital, LP. For this reason, I always watch where Pickens puts fresh money to work. And right now, he’s betting on pipelines.
