Bridgewater’s Dalio Says Capital Markets No Longer ‘Free’ (Bloomberg)
Recent central bank actions mean capital markets are no longer “free,” according to Bridgewater Associates’s Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund. “Today the economy and the markets are driven by the central banks and the coordination with the central government,” said Dalio, speaking at the Bloomberg Global Asset Owners Forum on Thursday. As a result, “capital markets are not free markets allocating resources in traditional ways.”
Hedge Fund Manager Trips Up as Asset Downgrades Hit CLO (Arizent)
Hedge fund King Street Capital Management has fallen foul of the slew of asset downgrades hitting CLO portfolios amid the coronavirus outbreak. The firm, which issues CLOs through its Rockwood Capital portfolio manager division, failed a portfolio test on its second European CLO at a key date in the transaction’s cycle, known as the effective date. In doing so, it is the first European CLO rated by Moody’s Investors Service to fail to meet all the portfolio requirements at this milestone.
After a Spotty Run, John Paulson Quits Hedge Funds (AI-CIO.com)
The big short is taking the big exit from hedge funds: John Paulson is joining the migration of hedgies to the family office world. Famed for the killing he made during the financial crisis when he shorted the housing market, Paulson, 64, caps off an up-and-down career that has seen a steady leakage of investors from his firm, Paulson & Co. During the 2008 financial crisis, his fund earned some $15 billion—of which $4 billion went to him personally—through betting against the housing market. He shorted mortgage-backed securities via credit default swaps.
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Tribune Publishing Gives Co-Founder of Hedge Fund Alden Global a Board Seat (The Wall Street Journal)
Tribune Publishing Co. said it has appointed Randall Smith, the co-founder of Alden Global Capital LLC, to its board, giving the hedge fund further oversight of the newspaper company and extending a standstill agreement between them. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that both parties were in talks to add Mr. Smith to the board as…
$5.3 Billion Hedge Fund Expands Bitcoin Mining Investment (Forbes)
Core Scientific announced yesterday that the hedge fund and investment manager Horizon Kinetics increased its partnership with the U.S. based blockchain hosting provider. Horizon upgraded its cryptocurrency service, hosted by Core Scientific, to Bitmain Antminer S19 and S19 Pro models. Horizon Kinetics has approximately $5.3 billion in assets under management but did not disclose the size of the cryptocurrency miner investment. Core Scientific stated in their press release that during the last year, Horizon Kinetics had tripled the number of miners it hosts with Core Scientific.
Investors at Point72 and Goldman Sachs Believe Industry Giants like FIS and Fiserv will be the Next to be Disrupted by Fintech. Here’s Where They are Most Susceptible. (Business Insider)
A partner at Point72 Ventures, the VC arm of Steve Cohen‘s hedge fund, expects the next wave of fintech disruption to happen in the less publicized back-end tech that powers big banks. Infrastructure giants like FIS and Fiserv have dominated the banking infrastructure space for decades, but fintechs are looking for ways to reimagine these core banking services. “They are all, as it currently stands, very good businesses with large customer bases who trust them, but the fact of the matter is they’ve fallen behind on technology,” Tripp Shriner, partner at Point72 Ventures, told Business Insider. Shriner isn’t alone in his prediction. Goldman’s investment banking head of fintech also says that the next trend to watch in fintech is players that focus on banks’ core, often dated, infrastructure.
An Almost Impossible Feat to Copy (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Fifteen years after its launch at the beginning of 2005, Danske Invest Hedge Fixed Income Strategies has become one the largest and best-performing hedge funds in the Nordics. “I still remember when we started with DKK 50 million back in 2005 and how we struggled to get inflows the first couple of years,” Michael Petry, who has been part of the fund’s journey from the start, tells HedgeNordic. Fast forward 15 years, Danske Bank Asset Management’s flagship hedge fund oversees DKK 8.0 billion or about €1.08 billion in assets under management, delivered an annualized return of 11.1 percent and enjoyed positive performance in 14 out of the past 15 years.
Thursday 7/2 Insider Buying Report: RAPT, AP (Nasdaq.com)
At RAPT Therapeutics, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, Director Wendye Robbins bought 2,600 shares of RAPT, for a cost of $26.01 each, for a total investment of $67,632. So far Robbins is in the green, up about 14.7% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $29.83. RAPT Therapeutics is trading up about 5% on the day Thursday. Before this latest buy, Robbins made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $19,200 shares for a cost of $12.00 each. And at Ampco-Pittsburgh, there was insider buying on Monday, by Director Carl H. Pforzheimer II who purchased 20,000 shares at a cost of $2.85 each, for a trade totaling $57,020. Ampco-Pittsburgh is trading up about 4.1% on the day Thursday.
Adobe Inc (ADBE) EVP, Chief Marketing Officer Ann Lewnes Sold $2.2 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP, Chief Marketing Officer of Adobe Inc., Ann Lewnes, sold 5,000 shares of ADBE on 07/01/2020 at an average price of $436.08 a share. The total sale was $2.2 million. Adobe Systems Inc offers a line of software and services for content creation and the measurement of digital advertising and marketing. Its software applications includes Photoshop and Lightroom, Adobe Analytics, Media Optimizer and Campaign Manager.
The EVP & COO of Commercial Metals Company (NYSE: CMC) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the EVP & COO of Commercial Metals Company (CMC), Tracy Porter, sold shares of CMC for $1.05M. Following Tracy Porter’s last CMC Sell transaction on April 21, 2016, the stock climbed by 4.0%.
SEBI Alleges Insider Trading By Divi’s Laboratories’ CFO, Seven Others (Bloomberg Quint)
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has issued a show cause notice to L Kishore Babu, chief financial officer of Divi’s Laboratories Ltd., alleging that he, along with certain other employees and individuals, was involved in insider trading activities in the company’s scrip. The market regulator has asked them to demonstrate why action should not be taken and an order for disgorgement of the gains should not be passed against them. This comes after SEBI conducted an investigation in the suspected insider trading activities by certain entities while trading in the scrip of Divi’s Lab between July 7-10, 2017.
