Brazil Hedge Fund Bull Keeps Her Cool By Ignoring the Turmoil in Pension Reform (Bloomberg)
All the tensions that have rattled Brazil traders over the past few weeks have done nothing to shake Teresa Barger’s optimism over the country. The chief executive officer and co-founder of the $2.6 billion Cartica Management LLC hedge fund is sticking to her “very bullish” views on Brazil, confident that growth in Latin America’s largest economy will start to pick up and that a planned overhaul of the nation’s pension system will be approved. That means she avoids watching the developments too closely, sidestepping the jitters that come with it.
Bridgewater Founder’s Foundation Gives Connecticut $100 Million Donation (The Wall Street Journal)
Dalio Philanthropies, run by the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, announced Friday it was giving Connecticut a $100 million donation for education and entrepreneurial programs, the largest gift ever for the state. Connecticut, which pledged to match the $100 million donation, and Dalio Philanthropies will create a new nonprofit to manage the funds and to implement the programs. It will work with public schools and workforce-development groups to focus on youth development, state officials said.
Have Declining Cryptocurrency Prices Driven Hedge Funds Away? (Preqin.com)
Cryptocurrency hedge funds – those investing directly in or through crypto-related securities –had a challenging year in 2018: top-tier coins like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple are down by 80%, 91% and 92% respectively from their all-time highs. Such funds, which deploy strategies such as long-only buy and hold and actively trade through shorting, futures and relative-value trading, generated an average return of -41.41% for 2018. But, despite the declining prices of digital currencies and high volatility, fund managers’ interest in crypto-related strategies is steadfast.
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Merida Capital Partners launches third Cannabis Fund for $200m (Opalesque.com)
The New York-based Merida Capital Partners revealed it had raised $200m for its third fund as it looks to continue investing in the cannabis industry, which has seen a flurry of deals in recent weeks. Since launching its first fund in late 2016, Merida has deployed nearly $80m across the firm’s first two funds and now has more than $125m under management. Though only two years old, Merida has accelerated liquidity within its portfolio of 25 investments through public listings for GrowGeneration, Vireo Health and CB2 Insights as well as leading investments in public companies KushCo Holdings and Freedom Leaf Health.
Ray Dalio Sounds a New Alarm on Capitalism’s Flaws, Warns of Revolution (Bloomberg)
Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund, said he believes flaws in American capitalism have created destructive and self-reinforcing gaps in education, social mobility, assets and income — and the result could be another revolution.
France Preparing to Fight Activist Funds: Finance Minister (Reuters)
BUCHAREST (Reuters) – The French government is preparing measures to prevent activist funds destabilizing French companies, the country’s finance minister told Reuters in an interview. Activist funds are increasingly active in Europe, buying up stakes in companies they feel are underperforming and pushing for changes in strategy to extract more value for shareholders. The practice has been common in the U.S. for many years but slower to take off in Europe as big stakes held by founding families or even the state proved a deterrent.
Former CEA Chair Austan Goolsbee Weighs in on Ray Dalio’s Comments… (CNBC)
Austan Goolsbee, former Council of Economic Advisors Chairman and University of Chicago Booth Business School professor, joins “Squawk Box” to discuss hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio’s comments on capitalism.
Inside the Chicago Hedge Fund Turf War Between Billionaire Ken Griffin and Dmitry Balyasny (Business Insider)
A big brother-little brother rivalry between Chicago-based hedge funds Citadel and Balyasny Asset Management has heated up, sources at both hedge funds say, as the firms fight for talent. Several sources point to Citadel’s poaching of Balyasny’s former business development head Matt Giannini last year as the spark for the current turf war. The headquarters of Ken Griffin‘s Citadel and Dmitry Balyasny‘s eponymous hedge fund are separated by one mile, the Chicago River, and plenty of bad blood.
Walgreens Stock Hit a Multiyear Low, but a Top Executive Is Buying (Barron’s)
Walgreens Boots Alliance stock is at a multiyear low, and a top executive at the pharmacy chain has just bought nearly $1 million in shares. Walgreens shares (ticker: WBA) cratered on Tuesday after the company reported disappointing earnings for its fiscal second quarter. Management reduced its forecast for annual profits.
Friday 4/5 Insider Buying Report: WBA, RMBL (Nasdaq.com)
Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned dollars to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys. And on Thursday, Denmar John Dixon bought $240,249 worth of RumbleON, buying 50,415 shares at a cost of $4.77 a piece. Before this latest buy, Dixon bought RMBL on 3 other occasions during the past twelve months, for a total investment of $110,016 at an average of $5.19 per share. RumbleON is trading up about 7.8% on the day Friday.
Pareto Network co-founder Talks About Policing Insider Trading (CoinRivet)
The United States is one of the only developed countries that doesn’t explicitly forbid insider trading. Each case comes down to a matter of particulars. Preet Bharara, former US Attorney for New York’s Southern District, recently announced what he calls the “Bharara Task Force on Insider Trading” – an assembly of legal experts dedicated to reforming US legislation “to protect investors”. The idea is to clear out some of the grey space surrounding insider trading.
Securities Group Supports Legislative Proposals at Hearing (FinancialRegNews.com)
“We strongly support the current bill, and we look forward to working with the Chairwoman and the Committee in passing the legislation this year,” Lubin testified. NASAA also expressed support for the Insider Trading Prohibition Act of 2019, which would create an explicit statutory definition of “insider trading.” Lubin said this is a major step forward in codifying much of the existing insider trading case law. In addition, NASAA supports the 8-K Trading Gap Act of 2019. This bill seeks to quash the opportunity to take advantage of non-public information that occur between the time an insider learns of a corporate event and the required filing with the SEC of a Form 8-K.
The Chief SC & GBS Officer of General Mills (NYSE: GIS) is Selling Shares (AnalystRatings.com)
Today, the Chief SC & GBS Officer of General Mills (GIS), John Church, sold shares of GIS for $239.6K. In addition to John Church, 5 other GIS executives reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on General Mills’ latest earnings report for the quarter ending February 28, the company posted quarterly revenue of $4.2 billion and quarterly net profit of $447 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $3.88 billion and had a net profit of $941 million. GIS’s market cap is $30.1B and the company has a P/E ratio of 19.67. Currently, General Mills has an average volume of 2.51M.
Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc (NYSE:TRWH) Insider Trading Activity – Major Shareholder Bought 77,251 shares of Stock (Market Exclusive)
Insider Trading Activity For Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc (NYSE:TRWH): Chatham Asset Management, Llc , Major Shareholder of Twin River Worldwide Holdings Inc (NYSE:TRWH) reportedly Bought 77,251 shares of the company’s stock at an average price of 30.75 for a total transaction amount of $2,375,468.25.
