Why Billionaire Investor Ray Dalio Hates Cash and Bonds, and Says the Election won’t Change His View on the Economy (MSN Money)
Ray Dalio, the founder, chairman and co-chief investment officer of the world’s largest hedge fund firm, Bridgewater Associates, has had a rough 2020. Bridgewater’s flagship fund has been deeply negative, even as rival hedge funds managed to outperform the market, particularly during the initial turmoil from the coronavirus pandemic. Still, Dalio does have an enviable record in his four decades in the business, and he is as provocative as ever. In an interview with Barry Ritholtz, chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management, he alludes to the difficulties his firm has faced. “The pandemic took me by surprise. I figured I didn’t have an edge on the pandemic, and that was stupid,” he said.
Steve Cohen Should Not Worry About Latest Hurdle In Pursuit Of New York Mets (Forbes)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio may have created a collective sense of dread among legions of Mets fans Monday when he was asked if he might try to block the sale of the Queens baseball team to billionaire hedge fund titan Steve Cohen. De Blasio told reporters in a press conference that attorneys from the New York City Law Department were doing their “due diligence” in reviewing the land lease for Citi Field, the team’s home stadium, which sits on city-owned real estate.
Billionaire Investor Stanley Druckenmiller is Said to be Shorting the US Dollar – and He Expects a Democratic Sweep this Election to Hurt Stocks in the Coming Years (Business Insider)
Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller is said to be shorting the US dollar, and he believes a Democratic sweep in the upcoming election could hurt stocks in the long-term, a Bloomberg report said. “We have borrowed so much that I’m skeptical that three to five years out that equities will give us any kind of return,” Bloomberg reported Druckenmiller saying at the virtual Robin Hood Investors Conference on Tuesday. He said the prospect of higher taxes and inflation will weaken equities in the coming years.
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Hedge Funds That Planned for Election Chaos See a Blue Wave (Bloomberg)
For hedge fund managers, preparations for chaos in the U.S. elections are giving way to strategies to capitalize on a sweeping Democratic victory. Just six days away from final voting, several top funds see former Vice President Joe Biden winning the presidency as well as the possibility of a so-called blue wave in which Republicans also lose control of the Senate.
Scaramucci Says Trump has United Country: ‘It Just Happens to be Against Him’ (The Hill)
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci went after his former boss on Tuesday, saying President Trump has managed to unify the country against his presidency. Trump is “remarkable” at unifying the country, but he “just happens to be unifying us against him,” Scaramucci said on MSNBC during a discussion about former President Obama tearing into Trump’s record. “I applaud the president for unifying the country,” he said. “It just happens to be against him.”
David Einhorn Sees ‘Enormous Tech Bubble,’ Adds a Few Stocks to Portfolio (CNBC)
Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn sent a dire warning on an “enormous” speculative bubble in technology stocks, saying the hedge fund has initiated a number of short positions on “second-tier” names and recent high-flying IPOs in the space.
More QuantPort Alumni Setting New Course (GreenStreet.com)
A team of former QuantPort executives is setting up a statistical-arbitrage equity shop that would operate in part from Russia. The new operation is called Red Cedar. Alexander Cherny is leading the venture as chief executive, with Christopher Dean as president and Alexander Kobrisov running a Moscow unit. It appears Red Cedar’s main office will be in the U.S., likely in New York. The firm is speaking to several large investors with an eye toward launching with more than $100 million. “They are being considered for some very big checks. If [Cherny] is successful, he will launch with a couple hundred million,” one source said. It’s likely Red Cedar would run separate accounts at the outset. But the firm also could start a hedge fund.
Prescient Fund Services’ AIFM AUM Surpasses EUR1bn (Privateequitywire.co.uk)
Platform and fund administration services provider Prescient Fund Services’ Alternative Investment Fund Manager assets under management surpassed EUR 1 billion in the third quarter of 2020. Prescient operates an Irish-regulated third-party Super ManCo with both UCITS Management Company and Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) permissions, as well as being a Fund Administrator. The funds, that are regulated under the European Union’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), sit across two of Prescient’s fund platforms: Prescient Global Qualified Investor Fund ICAV and Prescient Common Contractual Fund (a tax transparent umbrella structure designed for pension funds and other tax-exempt institutional investors).
Intuitive Surgical Inc (ISRG) Executive VP & CFO Marshall Mohr Sold $4.3 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
Executive VP & CFO of Intuitive Surgical Inc, Marshall Mohr, sold 6,000 shares of ISRG on 10/26/2020 at an average price of $715.28 a share. The total sale was $4.3 million. Intuitive Surgical Inc designs, manufactures, markets da Vinci Surgical Systems, and related instruments. The da Vinci surgery, combines the benefits of minimally invasive surgery for patients with the ease of use, precision and dexterity of open surgery.
What Did This CEO Just Do with Personal Shares of Shake Shack (NYSE: SHAK)? (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the CEO of Shake Shack (SHAK), Randall Garutti, sold shares of SHAK for $1.02M. Following Randall Garutti’s last SHAK Sell transaction on October 19, 2020, the stock climbed by 0.7%. The company has a one-year high of $85.43 and a one-year low of $30.01. Currently, Shake Shack has an average volume of 720.23K. Based on 11 analyst ratings, the analyst consensus is Moderate Buy with an average price target of $66.09, reflecting a 7.8% upside.
CFTC Sanctions Trader for Insider Trading by “Misappropriating” Employer’s Trade Data and Analysis (Lexology.com)
Although insider trading cases typically arise in the equities markets, managers should be reminded that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has asserted its authority to bring such actions in the commodity interest space as well. In recent years, the CFTC has shown a particular interest in pursuing such actions under a “misappropriation” theory – i.e., where an individual has used proprietary information of an employer to advantage his or her personal trading, breaching confidentiality and duty-of-loyalty obligations through the use of material, non-public information. As part of this trend, on Sept. 30, 2020, the CFTC settled charges[1] against Marcus Schultz, a former natural gas futures trader who, over a period of approximately three years, provided a broker with unauthorized disclosures of proprietary information about his employer’s planned trading and private market analysis.
Dell Technologies Inc (DELL) COO & Vice Chairman Jeffrey W Clarke Sold $9 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
COO & Vice Chairman of Dell Technologies Inc, Jeffrey W Clarke, sold 133,418 shares of DELL on 10/26/2020 at an average price of $67.73 a share. The total sale was $9 million. Dell Technologies Inc has a market cap of $47.47 billion; its shares were traded at around $63.57 with a P/E ratio of 23.03 and P/S ratio of 0.53.
