Quant Hedge Fund Finds Its Mid-Ranking Engineers are Glum (eFinancialCareers.com)
If you’re a mid-ranking engineer in a hedge fund, you should probably be feeling ok with your lot. The tech stack might be cranky and the hours might be long, but you’re probably not paid too badly, and you will surely be some solving interesting problems. This may not be enough. Two Sigma, the New York-based quantitative hedge fund which pays its software engineers anything from $240k and $412k according to Levelsfyi, surveyed its engineers and discovered that mid-ranking people were a bit unhappy.
U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Platinum Partner Executives’ Appeal of Fraud Convictions (Reuters)
WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by two former Platinum Partners executives of their conviction on charges that they defrauded bondholders of one of the defunct hedge fund’s portfolio companies as they seek a new trial. The justices, on the first day of their new term, turned away an appeal by Platinum co-founder Mark Nordlicht and co-chief investment officer David Levy of a lower court ruling that reversed the trial judge’s decision to overturn their convictions after jurors found them guilty.
The Nordic HFM Winners: OAM, Lynx and Storm (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Three Nordic asset managers, Oslo Asset Management, Lynx Asset Management and Storm Capital Management, were awarded during the HFM European Performance Awards 2022 ceremony at the Natural History Museum in London last week. The winners of the 2022 HFM European Performance Awards were announced in London on September 29, with the winners determined by a judging panel made up of institutional and private investors, as well as investment consultants.
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Michael Burry Flags ‘Passive Investing Bubble’ as Another Market Risk (New York Post)
“The Big Short” hedge fund manager Michael Burry cautioned that he sees another significant risk to market stability in the form of a “passive investing bubble” that he expects to burst. Burry, who has frequently warned that the US economy is in the midst of a major downturn, argued a boom in forms of passive investment, such as ETFs and other index funds, has created a fresh hazard for investors in the current bear market.
New Hedge Fund Launches Plunge to Lowest Level Since 2008 (Hedge Week)
New hedge fund launches have plunged to the lowest level since Q4 2008 as according to the latest HFR Market Microstructure Report. The estimated number of new hedge fund launches fell to only 80 in the second quarter of the year, a significant decline from the estimated 185 launches in Q1, representing the lowest launch rate since only 56 new funds launched in Q4 2008. In the trailing 12 months ending Q2 2022, an estimated 510 total new hedge funds have launched.
Host of Mini-Budget Champagne Party ‘Profited from Falling Pound’ (The Times)
A hedge fund manager and Tory donor who hosted Kwasi Kwarteng for a champagne reception on the day of the mini-budget is likely to have profited from the fall in the value of the pound. Andrew Law, a financier worth £750 million, helped to fund Liz Truss’s leadership campaign. The Times has been told Law was shorting the pound in the run-up to the mini-budget, meaning he probably profited from sterling’s fall amid market chaos.
Here’s the First Woman to Launch a Billion-Dollar Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)
Divya Nettimi started her own hedge fund Monday with more than $1 billion of commitments, making it the largest launch of a woman-led firm in the industry’s history and among the biggest of any to debut this year. Avala Global has begun investing the majority of the cash, with the rest expected to arrive early in the first quarter, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the fund’s inception hasn’t been announced publicly. A representative for the New York-based firm declined to comment.
New Hedge Fund Launches, Aiming to Make Bank on Bank Bonds (The Wall Street Journal)
Two long-time investment bankers are launching a hedge-fund firm to trade in securities issued by banks with seed capital from Leucadia Asset Management, the investment arm of Jefferies Financial Group Inc, according to people familiar with the matter. The new firm called ISO-mts is running a long-short fund, which will pair bets that the price of some bank bonds and preferred securities will rise with bets that the value of other instruments will fall. The strategy aims to return around 10% annually net of fees, a person familiar with the matter said.
Second London Hedge Fund Takes Short Bet Against Kerry Group (BusinessPost.ie)
Greenvale Capital joins Marshall Wace in betting that the food giant’s shares will continue to fall. A second London-based hedge fund has taken a substantial short bet against Kerry Group, one of Ireland’s largest and most successful companies. Central Bank data released last week shows that Greenvale Capital, which has nearly £1 billion worth of assets under management, has taken its short position on 0.5 per cent of shares in Kerry Group.
Wall Street’s Most Highly Regarded Titans are Warning ‘the Worst is Yet to Come’ for Stocks. Here’s Why People Like Ray Dalio, Jeremy Grantham, Carl Icahn, and Scott Minerd are Bearish on the Market’s Near-Term Prospects. (Business Insider)
Some of Wall Street’s biggest names say more trouble lies ahead for the stock market. Ray Dalio, Carl Icahn, Scott Minerd, and Jeremy Grantham all warned in recent days of more downside. Year-to-date, the S&P 500 is down 23%. Though it may seem like it, not everyone on Wall Street is bearish right now. Tom Lee, the top equity strategist at Fundstrat and the former chief US equity strategist at JPMorgan, said in a note to clients this week that he still sees the S&P 500 climbing to 5,100 in 2022, despite it currently sitting at 3,693. His reasoning is that inflation is falling and the Federal Reserve will be able to back off of their hawkish stance next year.
Monday 10/3 Insider Buying Report: LGF.A, DEI (Nasdaq.com)
At Lions Gate Entertainment, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Thursday, Director Harry Sloan bought 50,000 shares of LGF.A, for a cost of $7.06 each, for a total investment of $353,000. So far Sloan is in the green, up about 9.3% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $7.72. Lions Gate Entertainment is trading off about 1.1% on the day Monday. And at Douglas Emmett, there was insider buying on Wednesday, by William E. Simon Jr. who purchased 13,200 shares at a cost of $18.73 each, for a total investment of $247,236. Before this latest buy, Simon Jr. made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $497,250 shares at a cost of $19.89 each. Douglas Emmett is trading up about 1.5% on the day Monday. Bargain hunters are able to buy DEI even cheaper than Simon Jr. did, with shares trading as low as $18.03 in trading on Monday — that’s 3.7% below Simon Jr.’s purchase price.
$4.8 Million Bet On Loop Media? Check Out These 4 Penny Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
Loop Media: The Trade: Loop Media, Inc. (LPTV) Director Bruce Cassidy Sr bought a total of 1,094,250 shares at an average price of $4.42. To acquire these shares, it cost around $4.84 million. Great Elm Group: The Trade: Great Elm Group, Inc. (GEG) 10% owner BC Advisors LLC acquired a total of 111,334 shares at an average price of $1.99. The insider spent around $221.46 thousand to buy those shares.
