Ray Dalio Is Speaking At The DealBook Conference (BusinessInsider)
Ray Dalio, who runs hedge fund behemoth Bridgewater Associates, is speaking at the DealBook Conference in midtown Manhattan right now. Dalio, who is one of the most successful hedge fund managers ever, said that he would not invest in Bitcoins right now. He added that he would have to understand it better. He said there’s a “a lot of merit” behind it. “That’s a whole conversation,” Dalio said.
Hedge fund Rhodium debuts with bet on corporate bonds (Reuters)
Hedge fund start-up Rhodium Capital, run by former Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) star trader Iftikhar Ali, has begun life betting on a strong performance from corporate bonds over coming months. Bond prices were hit over the summer by fears the U.S. Federal Reserve would scale back its bond-buying economic stimulus programme and also by political wrangling over lifting the U.S. government’s debt ceiling. That pushed up yields – which move inversely to prices – on both government and corporate bonds and widened the spread between the two, a sign of investor nervousness.
A Hot Year for Stocks, but Not for Hedge Funds (ABCNews)
Returns for most middle-class savers have been strong this year. The S&P 500 index, a benchmark for many mutual funds, is at a new high after more gains in recent days. The Dow Jones Index has set new highs 35 times this year, rising 21 points yesterday and 21 percent since Jan. 1. But many of the wealthiest investors are lagging behind those who have their money in humble low-fee index funds. For the past five years in a row the vast majority of hedge funds have failed to match the S&P. This year is no exception. “The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index has underperformed the S&P 500 in eight of the first 10 months of 2013,” reports USA Today.
Suit Charges 3 Credit Ratings Agencies With Fraud in Bear Stearns Case (NYTimes)
The collapse of two Bear Stearns hedge funds in 2007 was among the earliest signs of the impending financial crisis. More than six years later, lawyers continue to fight over the cause of their demise. On Monday morning, liquidators seeking to recover money for investors in the funds filed a fraud lawsuit against three major credit rating agencies. The action, filed in a New York State court, accuses Standard & Poor’s, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service of assigning artificially high credit ratings to the mortgage bonds in the funds. When those bonds collapsed, the funds failed, resulting in more than $1 billion in investor losses.
HedgeCo Networks Continues its National Growth with Three Additions to the Corporate Management Team (PRNewsWire)
HedgeCo Networks, and the pioneering hedge fund data base (HedgeCo.net) are continuing to experience accelerated growth and expansion in naming Anthony Minissale as Corporate Director of Operations, David Schroeder as Chief Marketing Officer, and David Cabrera as Lead Developer. HedgeCo Networks, with offices in New York and West Palm Beach, Florida, has amassed a network that includes over 34,000 active users, data on 7,500 hedge funds and new “Liquid Alternatives” technology (HedgeCoVest) offering the ability to invest across multiple hedge fund strategies through separately managed transparent accounts in the investor’s personal control.
Hedge Funds Are Muscling Into Munis (WSJ)
Hedge funds are making a large bet on municipal debt, bringing aggressive tactics to a $3.7 trillion market long known as humdrum. The strategies include demanding high interest rates in return for financing local governments, buying the debt of struggling municipalities on the cheap, and trying to profit on rising volatility as many mom-and-pop investors who have dominated the municipal-bond market for decades flee amid deepening fiscal problems in many U.S. cities and states.
Balyasny comes to Europe in search for hedge fund talent (eFinancialNews)
Colin Lancaster, senior managing director at the firm, told Financial News: “Strategically, we believe it a good time to increase certain of our European asset exposures and there’s more to be done there.” Chris Langman, a New York-based portfolio manager at Balyasny, is relocating to the new London office. Lancaster said that Balyasny has been looking at office space and portfolio managers, but it is taking a patient approach to growing in the region. He said: “Because of a dearth of new entrants into the market, it seems to be a good time to find new talent.”
SOTS market roadmap: DR Horton reports (CNBC)
Loeb’s Third Point holds 1.64 pct Sony stake under its own name-filing (Reuters)
Activist hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb’s Third Point held a 1.64 percent direct interest in Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) shares as of the end of September, a regulatory filing showed on Monday. The fund, which has pushed -so far unsuccessfully- for the electronics giant to partially spin off its lucrative entertainment business, has said it controls about 7 percent of Sony shares either directly or under different names. It is unclear whether Monday’s filing represents a change in the fund’s overall holdings.
JOBS Act: Surfing Hedge Fund Teams Up With “Trojan Horse” Joe Curren (HedgeCo)
In a move to take advantage of the SEC’s ratification of the JOBS Act, $100 million hedge fund investor Topturn Capital has aligned itself with professional Australian surfer Joe Curren. The company believes this will set a new precedent in hedge fund marketing. “We feel that how we represent our company will change the industry norm,” Greg Stewart, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Top Turn Capital, said. “People look at numbers all day everyday. We just brought in The Trojan Horse for our investment strategy by introducing a surfer into the equation.”
Prime broker veteran to take reins at hedge fund trade body (CityAM)
EUROPE’S leading hedge fund trade body yesterday named one of investment banking’s top prime brokerage veterans as head of the organisation. The Alternative Investment Management Association, which represents 1,300 hedge funds and investment firms, said former Barclays and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) man Jack Inglis would be made chief executive in the new year. Inglis takes the reins from current chief executive Andrew Baker, who had headed the organisation since 2009. Inglis is well known to funds from his career spent in prime brokerage, a catch-all term for a variety of services banks offer to hedge funds.
Hedge Fund Investors Cut Bullish Gold Bets On US Fed Outlook (LiveTradingNews)
Hedge Fund Investors Cut Bullish Gold Bets On US Fed Outlook Hedge fund investors cut Bullish Gold bets, adding the most Short contracts in 4 wks, as US economic growth is fueling speculation that the US Federal Reserve will pare stimulus. Investors holdings across commodities dropped the most since last April. The net position in Gold slid 13% to 87,689 futures and options in the week ended 5 November US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data show. Short bets rose 37%, the most since 15 October, and Long bets fell 4.9%.
Investors need to starve the hedge fund beast (FT)
Asked in the late 1970s how he saw the outlook for the specialist investment vehicles that he is credited with inventing, Alfred Winslow Jones was no optimist. “The hedge fund doesn’t have a terrific future,” he said gloomily. Hedge funds’ investment styles were too easily copied, and the inefficiencies on which they thrived too swiftly eroded. They would never, Jones thought, become a big part of the investment scene. Were he alive today, Jones would be astonished at the resilience of his creation. No longer the preserve of wealthy private investors, hedge funds are part of the mainstream, managing a stunning $2.5tn, much of it from pension funds. This far exceeds their $1.9tn pre-crisis peak.
Icahn Continues to Bend Cook’s Ear About Apple Buyback (WallStCheatSheet)
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn recently spoke again with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook about his proposal to expand the Cupertino-based company’s share buyback program by $150 billion, reports CNBC. The activist investor told CNBC’s Scott Wapner that he had a “good conversation” with Cook “over the last few days.” According to Icahn, Cook is continuing to study the buyback proposal. Although it is not known if Cook agrees with Icahn’s views on share repurchases, the two men apparently found some common ground. “We both continue to believe that the company is undervalued,” Icahn told CNBC.
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