Klarman Made $1 Billion Hedging Markets. He Still Lost Money (Bloomberg)
Seth Klarman made $1 billion betting against stocks and corporate credit. That wasn’t enough to prevent his hedge fund from losing money last month. His successful hedges were offset by deeper losses in the portfolio and overall Klarman’s Baupost Group declined as much as 8% in March, according to a person familiar with the firm’s performance.
Hedge Fund Star Behind 4,000% Coronavirus Return Peers Into Crystal Ball (The Wall Street Journal)
Financial news outlets are full of predictions these days by investors who allegedly “called the coronavirus collapse” for what they think will happen next. A leaked client letter from a hedge fund star who made an absolute killing in the selloff promising a peek into his “magical crystal ball” is practically financial catnip. Mark Spitznagel could be forgiven some immodesty. His Universa Investments, which offers investors a tail-risk hedging strategy that serves as an insurance policy against extreme market events, made…
Cramer Says he and Hedge Fund Billionaire David Tepper are Confused by the Market’s Recent Rally (CNBC)
CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Wednesday that he and hedge fund billionaire David Tepper are not sure why the stock market has rallied in recent days while the coronavirus pandemic continues to upend daily life in the U.S. “I spoke to Dave Tepper yesterday and we were both kind of marveling, ‘Jeez it’s been bullish. Why?’” Cramer recalled on “Squawk on the Street.”
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Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Reveals Why it Likes TikTok Parent ByteDance Even More During the Coronavirus Pandemic (Business Insider)
Billionaire Chase Coleman‘s Tiger Global begins a recent letter to investors in his firm’s private equity fund by saying the $36 billion fund manager is “deeply sympathetic to the human toll this virus is taking.” It ends the letter, dated March 23, by reminding investors that some of the firm’s “most impactful” private investments were boosted by the 2008 housing crisis – such as Facebook, Flipkart, and JD — and that the SARS outbreak in 2003 created “an incredible backdrop for prospective returns.”
Appaloosa Partner Braves Marketing Trail (HFAlert.com)
Another former Appaloosa Management executive is striking out on his own. Aaron Weitman, both a nephew and protege of Appaloosa chief David Tepper, has penciled in July 1 to launch the debut fund from his CastleKnight Management. He is expected to start with at least $100 million, including an undisclosed contribution from Tepper. CastleKnight would employ event-driven and special-situations strategies, using fundamental analysis to invest across the debt and equity of a mix of companies. While Weitman was planning the offering before the coronavirus crisis began, that focus could position his New York firm to take advantage of growing demand from investors who see such vehicles as capable of performing well amid the market turmoil resulting from the pandemic.
Macro Hedge Fund Saw Strong Performance in March, Led by Macro CTA Strategies (Opalesque.com)
Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Macro hedge fund saw strong performance in March, led by Macro CTA strategies, tracked by the HFRI Macro: Systematic Diversified Index, which was up 2.9% in March. The HFRI Macro (Total) Index gained +2.1 percent for the month, with significant contributions from quantitative, trend-following Macro CTA strategies. CTA gains were attributed to trading long and short positions across fixed income, equity, currencies, metals, and energy commodities. Discretionary Commodity and Currency Macro strategies also gained for the month, with the HFRI Macro: Commodity Index returning +3.1 percent, while the HFRI Macro: Currency Index added +2.9 percent. According to the report, fixed income-based Relative Value Arbitrage (RVA) strategies posted mixed gains in March on with long volatility exposures offsetting arbitrage spread widening.
Great Depression Is Closest Parallel to Pandemic, Warns Odey (Bloomberg)
The global economy is slipping into a “different era” as the devastation in industries from oil to services roils markets, hedge fund manager Crispin Odey cautioned his investors. “This is not like 2008-9, nor 2001-2, nor even 1989-92,” Odey wrote in a letter to clients seen by Bloomberg. “The fall in global gross national product for this year will echo 1931-2. That was a terrible time when countries and institutions disappeared and characters like Adolf Hitler seized their chance to take over Germany.”
Hedge Funds Down 4.40 per cent in March, Says Eurekahedge (Hedge Week)
Hedge fund managers were down 4.40 per cent in March, outperforming the MSCI AC World Index IMI (Local) by 9.59 per cent during the month – a level of outperformance unseen since October 2008. Long volatility-focused strategies, CTA/managed futures and AI hedge funds top the Q1 2020 league table, while equity long-biased hedge funds nurse losses of close to 20 per cent. On an asset-weighted basis, hedge funds were down 6.49 per cent in March, as captured by the Mizuho Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index (USD). The index is currently down 8.95 per cent year-to-date. As of Q1 2020, the global hedge fund industry AUM has declined by almost USD110 billion based on preliminary estimates for March data.
Novogratz: We Have Money-Printing Orgy Going on, Amazing Environment to Buy Bitcoin (Bitcoin.com)
Galaxy Digital chairman Michael Novogratz said that bitcoin is his pick under the current financial situation, describing it as an “amazing environment” to buy bitcoin. With “global money printing orgy,” a possible another trillion-dollar stimulus package, and “money growing on trees,” Novogratz said this is the year for bitcoin.
Wednesday 4/8 Insider Buying Report: ARR, GEOS (Nasdaq.com)
On Monday, ARMOUR Residential REIT’s CIO, Scott Ulm, made a $69,000 buy of ARR, purchasing 10,000 shares at a cost of $6.90 a piece. Ulm was up about 25.5% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with ARR trading as high as $8.66 at last check today. ARMOUR Residential REIT is trading up about 7.2% on the day Wednesday. Before this latest buy, Ulm purchased ARR at 3 other times during the past year, for a total investment of $1.67M at an average of $17.58 per share. And also on Monday, Director Richard F. Miles purchased $65,500 worth of Geospace Technologies, purchasing 10,000 shares at a cost of $6.55 a piece. Geospace Technologies is trading up about 2.6% on the day Wednesday. So far Miles is in the green, up about 8.4% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $7.10.
Petmed Express Inc (PETS) CEO & President Menderes Akdag Sold $625,000 of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO & President of Petmed Express Inc., Menderes Akdag, sold 20,000 shares of PETS on 04/07/2020 at an average price of $31.25 a share. The total sale was $625,000. PetMed Express Inc is a nationwide pet pharmacy. The Company markets prescription and non-prescription pet medications and other health products for dogs, cats, and horses direct to the consumer.
The Global Brand President-AE of American Eagle (NYSE: AEO) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the Global Brand President-AE of American Eagle (AEO), Charles Kessler, sold shares of AEO for $480.9K. In addition to Charles Kessler, one other AEO executive reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on American Eagle’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending January 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $1.31 billion and quarterly net profit of $4.76 million.
Opinion: Cory Gardner Must Speak Out Against Insider Trading (Csindy.com)
Senator Cory Gardner promised to be an independent voice for Coloradans: “When my party is wrong, I’ll say it. When something is broken, I’ll fix it.” Now is Gardner’s chance to act on his pledge. Profiting off a public health crisis, allegedly through insider trading, is wrong. And there is a clear, straightforward way for Gardner to help fix it. Recent reports suggest that two of Gardner’s Senate colleagues, Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler, relied on information from a senators-only briefing when deciding to offload millions of dollars of stocks before the recent market collapse. Meanwhile, those same senators publicly minimized the pandemic’s threat to the American people, padding their pockets while putting families at risk.
Sen. Kelly Loeffler Denies Insider Trading Allegations, Fails Again To Name Stock Manager (Saraacarter.com)
Senator Kelly Loeffler, R-GA, is continuing to deny allegations of insider trading surrounding stocks she sold before the coronavirus hit the U.S. markets and failed to answer questions regarding who manages those stocks, during an interview Wednesday with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. “I have not profited. I never sought to profit from my position at the Senate. I’m here to serve all Georgians. In fact, I donate my paycheck to good charities around Georgia doing hard work serving our citizens,” Loeffler told Bartiromo. She added, “I went to the Senate after a nearly three-decade career in the private sector, in financial services, where I conducted myself with the highest levels of integrity. Third party managers manage all of our investments. I have no communication with them. And this is cherry-picking for dates and times around events that are completely unrelated to my investment manager’s decisions or any meetings or communications I have had.”
