Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio Gets More Bullish on Gold Amid Warnings of Recession (TheStreet)
Even as the stock market capped off a third day of gains following a foray into correction territory last week, safe-haven assets are enjoying a moment in the sun. Gold rose as much as 0.6% to $1,337.01 an ounce in the early hours of Wednesday, Feb. 14, reaching its highest level since Feb. 6. Most recently, gold was at $1,331.76 a ounce, up 0.17%. The jump came as the yellow metal got increased support from one very big name on Wall Street. Billionaire hedge fund manager Ray Dalio‘s Bridgewater Associates raised its stake in the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and iShares Gold Trust (IAU) during the final quarter of 2017, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings this week.
Axar Capital Management Takes a Stake in a Real Estate Debt Firm (The Wall Street Journal)
A provider of junior debt in the real-estate industry is taking on a new partner in anticipation of what the firm’s co-founder expects will be a shakeout in the business. Axar Capital Management LP, a hedge fund and investment manager, has acquired a stake in Terra Capital Partners, which has provided debt financing to more than 300 properties over its 15-year history, according to Co-Founder and Chief Executive Bruce Batkin. Terra currently has about $450 million of assets under management.
Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock.com
Renaissance Hedge Fund Tumbles 5.4% After Correction Warning (BloombergQuint.com)
(Bloomberg) — Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund that in January warned clients of a “significant risk” of a correction, lost 5.4 percent this month through Feb. 9 as stock markets slumped. Since Jan. 1, the Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund is down 3.4 percent, according to an investor document seen by Bloomberg News. Known as RIEF, the strategy trades only U.S.-listed equities and is biased toward stocks that Renaissance’s models expect to rise. It’s designed to outperform the S&P 500 Index by 4 to 6 percentage points and managed about $22 billion as of the end of last year.
SkyBridge decision on deal to sell firm expected by end of February: CIO (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A decision on the sale of SkyBridge Capital LLC, owned by former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci, to a consortium that includes Chinese conglomerate HNA Group [HNAIRC.UL] should be made by the end of February, the firm’s chief investment officer said on Tuesday. “I think we’ll hear one way or another how this is going to shape up by the end of the month,” Skybridge CIO Ray Nolte told Reuters in an interview. “I think we’re getting toward the finish line one way or another,” Nolte said. “I think this will be a very telling month.”
Goldman, Morgan Stanley Veteran Signs Up For Eventual Firing By Ken Griffin (DealBreaker)
Sooner or later, everyone on Wall Street will work for Ken Griffin (after the waterboarding, of course). Sooner or later, they’ll shudder when his stare turns their blood to ice. And sooner rather than later, they will stop working for him. In fact, there are probably not enough people on Wall Street to satisfy the Citadel chief’s appetite for hiring and firing. Ken Griffin knows this and is working on the problem. In the meantime, he’s continuing to work through the current supply, which means its John Neary’s turn to spend a couple of days/weeks/months/maybe years waiting for that final summons to Ken’s office.
