Novogratz Sees End to Decade-Long Stock Rally Based on ‘Dangerous’ Macro Environment (CNBC)
Hedge fund manager turned cryptocurrency investor Michael Novogratz cautioned that the stock market is nearing the end of its historic rally. Based on the broader global environment, the former Fortress fund manager said he’s skeptical of the risk-reward payoff for stocks. “I think we’re long in the cycle,” Novogratz, head of cryptocurrency merchant bank Galaxy Digital, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday. “This could be the last leg of this giant, decade-long liquidity driven rally. When you really step back, the macro is dangerous and you’re going to surf this last leg of the rally.”
Citadel Alums Launch Year’s Biggest Hedge Fund With $2 Billion (Bloomberg)
The biggest hedge fund startup so far this year is debuting with $2 billion in investor commitments and former Citadel traders Michael Rockefeller and Karl Kroeker at the helm. Their firm, Woodline Partners, will begin trading Thursday after the duo decided to cap the size of their fund, according to people familiar with the matter. They’ll be among a small group of well-pedigreed managers expected to open with at least $1 billion in 2019.
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US Hedge Fund ValueAct Scours Japan for More Investments (Barron’s)
US hedge fund ValueAct Capital, which has $16bn, of funds under management, is scouring Japan for more investments as some of the country’s biggest companies come under pressure from shareholders to boost profitability, according to people close to the fund. The San Francisco-based hedge fund scored a major victory earlier this year when Robert Hale, one of its partners, won a position on the board of medical device and camera maker Olympus in which it holds a stake of more than 5%. That marked the first time a US activist investor has been appointed a director of a Japanese company.
Billionaire Tax Opponent Would Like Some Tax Dollars, Please (Deal Breaker)
When he bought the Carolina Panthers last year, David Tepper sure looked a lot like the other 31 members of that most exclusive club, National Football League franchise owners: white, male, exceedingly rich. But there were some important differences. For instance, Tepper is way, way richer than the others, and unlike most of them, he actually made his fortune himself. He’s not a particularly enthusiastic fan of the current occupant of the White House. Most importantly, he appears to think that his players might just be human beings with intellects and agency and the right to be heard on matters of importance to them, and not faceless beasts of burden, primarily descended from the lesser races, designed to be replaced when their brains get a boo-boo, as they are seen by most if not all of the other 31.
Chipotle’s Impressive Reversal Gives Ackman Record Gains (Market Realist)
Chipotle Mexican Grill is helping Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square reap record gains year-to-date. Chipotle’s impressive second-quarter results propelled the stock to an all-time high. Hedge fund comeback: After a rather weak 2018, many hedge funds are making a comeback in 2019. In our series What Drove Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital’s Gains in Q2? we discussed that Greenlight Capital (GLRE) had gained 17.4% YTD (year-to-date). The fund called Tesla shorts, gold, Adient, General Motors, and AerCap its key winners during the second quarter.
Citizen Ray: Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio is the Wise Uncle You Wished You Had (Tech Crunch)
I don’t want more success. I don’t want more money.” When most hedge fund managers say something like that to you, you’d be justified in suspecting that they’re giving you their carefully crafted Davos riff. Because unlike many Silicon Valley billionaires who believe (or sort of believe) in the transcendence of their mission, the motives of the Wall Street titan are often straightforward: it’s about the money, and when the money gets huge, it’s about building a legacy. But as Ray Dalio looked me in the eyes recently and said those words, I believed in his sincerity. That’s not to say he won’t earn enormous sums more. In fact, last year, the financial press widely reported that Dalio earned in the ten figures thanks to Bridgewater’s flagship Pure Alpha fund posting stellar returns.
Danish Hedge Funds Lead the Way (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Danish hedge funds were up 6.5 percent on average in the first half of 2019, better than funds from other Nordic countries. The Danish hedge fund industry, as measured by the NHX Denmark, produced an annualized return of 5.8 percent in the past five years through the end of June, more than twice the 2.7 percent-return delivered by the Nordic Hedge Index. As displayed in the “Nordic hedge fund space: country-by-country report” for the second quarter of 2019, the Danish hedge fund industry outperformed the other three Nordic industries on most quantitative measures. The NHX Denmark currently comprises 40 constituents, three of which were launched in 2019.
Thursday 8/1 Insider Buying Report: LGND, TSLA (Nasdaq.com)
At Ligand Pharmaceuticals, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, Director Jason Aryeh purchased 4,004 shares of LGND, for a cost of $99.22 each, for a total investment of $397,287. Bargain hunters are able to buy LGND at a price even lower than Aryeh did, with the stock changing hands as low as $93.31 in trading on Thursday which is 6.0% below Aryeh’s purchase price. Ligand Pharmaceuticals is trading up about 5.3% on the day Thursday. Before this latest buy, Aryeh purchased LGND on 5 other occasions during the past twelve months, for a total investment of $215,120 at an average of $110.20 per share. And at Tesla, there was insider buying on Monday, by Director Robyn M. Denholm who purchased 1,000 shares for a cost of $232.72 each, for a total investment of $232,720.
The COO of Subsidiary of First American Financial Corporation (NYSE: FAF) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the COO of Subsidiary of First American Financial Corporation (FAF), Christopher Michael Leavell, sold shares of FAF for $580.2K. Following Christopher Michael Leavell’s last FAF Sell transaction on May 16, 2019, the stock climbed by 3.1%.
Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC) CEO and President Kathy J Warden Sold $2.4 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO and President of Northrop Grumman Corp, Kathy J Warden, sold 6,837 shares of NOC on 07/29/2019 at an average price of $353.46 a share. The total sale was $2.4 million. Northrop Grumman Corp offers portfolio of capabilities and technologies to deliver products, systems and solutions for applications to government and commercial customers. It provides products, systems and solutions in autonomous systems. Northrop Grumman Corp has a market cap of $59.04 billion; its shares were traded at around $348.96 with a P/E ratio of 17.07 and P/S ratio of 1.84. The dividend yield of Northrop Grumman Corp stocks is 1.40%.
SEC Data in Insider Trading Investigations (Law.com)
Recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions charging senior lawyers at Apple and SeaWorld with insider trading provide reason to dust off company insider trading policies and assess whether updates or additional training are needed. As sanctuaries for corporate America’s most valuable confidential information, law departments are among the first places regulators look when trying to determine the source of a trader’s material nonpublic information.
Vaccinex Inc (VCNX) President and CEO Maurice Zauderer Bought $750,002 of Shares (Guru Focus)
President and CEO of Vaccinex Inc., Maurice Zauderer, bought 183,824 shares of VCNX on 07/30/2019 at an average price of $4.08 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $750,002. Vaccinex Inc has a market cap of $52.803 million; its shares were traded at around $4.60 with and P/S ratio of 71.90. GuruFocus has detected 2 severe warning signs with Vaccinex Inc.
Hedge Fund Fever Fuels Surging Growth at Brazil Asset Manager (Bloomberg)
Few firms have benefited as much from Brazil’s hedge fund renaissance as Kinea Investimentos Ltda. Assets under management at Kinea, which is owned by Itau Unibanco Holding SA, have surged fivefold since the end of 2016, to 62.1 billion reais ($16 billion) as of June. The firm’s hedge fund division propelled much of that growth after Kinea brought in new blood to overhaul operations in 2015. The Kinea Chronos FIM hedge fund ranked No. 1 out of 151 similar funds for net inflows in the first six months of this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
CFTC Charges Trader with Spoofing in Financial Futures Markets (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission today issued an order filing and settling charges against Benjamin Cox, a trader and CFTC-registered floor broker based in Chicago, Illinois, for engaging in spoofing in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) E-mini S&P 500 and E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures markets. James McDonald, CFTC’s Director of Enforcement, said, “As this case shows, the CFTC will vigorously pursue actions against individuals, as well as entities, who engage in the unlawful practice of spoofing. We will continue to work closely with our regulatory partners, as we did in this case, to protect the integrity of our markets.”
