Einhorn’s Greenlight Takes Stake in Twitter – Letter (Reuters)
Hedge fund Greenlight Capital said it took a new stake in Twitter (TWTR.N) last month as the social media company sued to force Elon Musk to buy the company even as the billionaire entrepreneur said he has changed his mind about the deal. Greenlight founder David Einhorn wrote to investors on Monday that his hedge fund had taken the position, paying an average $37.24 for the stock, according to the letter seen by Reuters.
SC Hedge Fund Investor Looks to Spread the Word about Math and Financial Literacy (The Post and Courier)
In his day job as a hedge fund investor, Scott Bessent is by nature comfortable around numbers. The South Carolina native and founder of Key Square Group is equally at ease navigating the turbulent global financial markets. One of his firm’s macro-focused funds was up 50 percent through June, while another had climbed 26 percent, according to data from Bloomberg. Bessent said Key Square turned bearish on “a lot of high-flying” technology stocks last fall — about six weeks before the market peaked — while plowing money into crude oil and other commodities as geopolitical tensions were rising and interest rates were poised to jump. “These are our kind of markets,” he said.
FAANGs Ain’t What They Used to Be, so Beware the Bear-Market Bounce Says This Hedge Fund Manager (MarketWatch)
It’s been some rally. The S&P 500 SPX, 0.31% is starting the week at a seven-week high, bolstered by hopes for a less hawkish Fed and a sense that earnings pessimism was overdone. The benchmark stock index is up 12.6% from the recent low hit md-June, having delivered its best July performance since 1939, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Last week’s 4.2% pop took it through resistance at 4,000, moving further above its 50-day moving average in the process. And so on. But, naturally, some are not convinced. With the S&P 500’s relative strength index now at 74 and in “overbought” territory, bearish short-term traders may be expecting a bit of a pull back. And Kevin Smith, chief investment officer at hedge fund Crescat Capital, thinks the problems are greater than just an over-extended momentum gauge.
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Crypto Hedge Fund Veteran Mark Yusko Predicts Bitcoin ‘Spring’ Kickoff from BTC — Here’s His Timeline (Healthcare Business)
Mark Yusko, managing partner of Morgan Creek Digital, predicts when he believes that Bitcoin (BTC) to a new bull market. Speaking in an interview with Stansberry Research, Yusko said that the recent market structure of Bitcoin points to a bottoming process, with BTC printing several higher lows and higher highs. “I’ll argue, and I’ve been arguing about this for ten days or so, and I’m not quite ready to call the bottom, but if I came back about a week ago and watched a podcast, I did…”You know what the look is, we’ve made three lows higher.” It hit $17,500, and then we went up and down to about $18,000, then we went up, then we went down to $19,000, then we went up, and then there was a number around $20,900, and I said if we break out at $20,900 we’ll have three higher lows [and] Three higher altitudes. This is a very good uptrend and probably the ‘spring’ is here.”
Acme Century Capital Management Rides Volatility to Double Digit Returns (Opalesque)
Hedge funds have had a rough first half of the year, but some strategies are still in positive territory. Convertible Arbitrage funds added $318.52 million through the end of May according to the latest Barclay Fund Flow Indicator published by BarclayHedge. Convertible arbitrage funds have performed well this year and are seeing asset flows come alongside that performance. The strategy has picked up $5.75 billion in new capital year to date through the end of May. The flagship convertible arbitrage strategy at Acme Century Capital Management is one example of recent outperformance. The strategy was up 2.80% in June and is up 12.41% year to date, according to performance information reviewed by Opalesque.
Wall Street Billionaires Like Bill Ackman Say They Support Closing the Carried-Interest Tax Loophole. But Behind Closed Doors, Some Fund Managers Worry it will Hurt Their Paychecks and Delay Exits. (Business Insider)
The Manchin-Schumer bill targets the carried-interest tax loophole for PE and hedge fund managers. For managers, taxes would double for profits on assets held fewer than five years to about 40%. Billionaires such as Bill Ackman are supportive, but some managers worry for their paycheck. For Democrats and Republicans, closing the carried-interest tax loophole, which benefits private equity and hedge fund managers, has been a political football for two decades.
Citadel Securities Loses SEC D-Limit Order Case (Hedge Week)
A trio of federal judges in Washington have ruled against Citadel Securities in a case against the US Securities and Exchange Commission over its approval of the IEX’s D-Limit order type, according to a report by Bloomberg. D-Limit orders are subject to a 350 microsecond delay which is meant to reduce the advantage of high-frequency traders like Citadel. The electronic trading firm, founded by billionaire Bill Ackman, argued that D-Limit has a negative impact on investors by delaying orders and that the SEC approval process broke the laws and rules that govern it. Citadel wanted the court to force the SEC to reconsider or reverse its approval for D-Limit which was granted in August 2020 and came into force in October of the same year.
Ex-Goldman Sachs MD Now a Hedge Fund Headhunter (eFinancialCareers.com)
Dan James has worked on the sell-side. He’s worked on the buy-side. And now, he’s morphing into the man to know for a job in hedge funds. James, who was a Goldman Sachs managing director and head of synthetics and quant sales between 2014 and 2018, has just opened a search boutique, Monroe Partners with veteran headhunter Christian Robbins. James spent the past four years in business development for hedge fund Millennium Management, scouting for portfolio management talent.
Monday 8/1 Insider Buying Report: TZOO, AYI (Nasdaq.com)
On Friday, Travelzoo’s Global Chief Executive Officer, Holger Bartel, made a $136,000 purchase of TZOO, buying 25,000 shares at a cost of $5.44 a piece. Bartel was up about 6.6% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with TZOO trading as high as $5.80 in trading on Monday. Travelzoo is trading up about 7.7% on the day Monday. And at Acuity Brands, there was insider buying on Thursday, by Director Laura O’shaughnessy who purchased 575 shares at a cost of $174.54 each, for a total investment of $100,360. This buy marks the first one filed by O’shaughnessy in the past year. Acuity Brands is trading up about 0.1% on the day Monday. So far O’shaughnessy is in the green, up about 5.4% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $183.92.
Around $30 Million Bet On This Communication Services Stock? 4 Penny Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
MediaCo Holding: The Trade: MediaCo Holding Inc. (MDIA) 10% owner Soohyung Kim bought a total of 12,899,480 shares at an average price of $2.32. To acquire these shares, it cost around $29.87 million. MarketWise: The Trade: MarketWise, Inc. (MKTW) 10% owner Porter Frank Stansberry acquired a total of 706,249 shares at an average price of $2.67. The insider spent around $1.88 million to buy those shares.
United States: SEC Brings Flurry Of Insider Trading Cases Using Market Analytics (Mondaq)
On July 25, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or the Commission) made headlines announcing insider trading charges against 10 individuals across four separate cases, signaling an increased and renewed focus on insider trading. The enforcement blitz comes on the heels of the SEC’s first insider trading case involving “crypto asset securities,” and a month after the Department of Justice brought insider trading charges based on trading of non-fungible tokens. Parallel criminal charges were also filed against certain defendants named in the SEC’s actions.
