Hedge Funds Flee Banks, Lending-Related Stocks (Reuters)
Global hedge funds cut their exposure to U.S. banking stocks to a near 10-year record low and fled lending-sensitive shares amid the banking turmoil that began earlier this month, Goldman Sachs said in its prime services weekly report. An indicator of how bearish or bullish hedge funds are positioned showed that investors became more pessimistic. Their long positions in banking divided by short positions ended the period March 17-23 at 1.28, near 10-year lows. In the beginning of 2023, it was at 1.52, Goldman said.
Apple And 2 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling (Benzinga)
Apple: The Trade: Apple Inc. (AAPL) COO Jeffrey E Williams sold a total of 187,730 shares at an average price of $159.76. The insider received around $29.99 million from selling those shares. Micron Technology: The Trade: Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) EVP, Technology & Products Scott Deboer sold a total of 20,000 shares at an average price of $60.00.
Monday 3/27 Insider Buying Report: UNFI, AEL (Nasdaq.com)
At United Natural Foods, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, Chief Executive Officer J. Alexander Douglas Jr. bought 45,168 shares of UNFI, for a cost of $22.22 each, for a total investment of $1.00M. So far Douglas Jr. is in the green, up about 10.2% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $24.48. United Natural Foods is trading up about 6.2% on the day Monday. Before this latest buy, Douglas Jr. made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $99,629 shares for a cost of $33.98 each. And on Wednesday, Director Alan David Matula bought $252,034 worth of American Equity Investment Life Holding, buying 7,100 shares at a cost of $35.50 a piece. American Equity Investment Life Holding is trading up about 2.2% on the day Monday. Matula was up about 3.2% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with AEL trading as high as $36.64 at last check today.
AT1 Bond Wipeout: Not the Default Mode of Resolutions (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – As part of the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, Swiss financial regulator FINMA instructed the credit-stricken bank to write down 16 billion Swiss francs of additional tier-1 (AT1) bonds. This puts the traditional, common-sense pecking order hierarchy in turmoil as equity shareholders are set to receive payouts from the takeover. This prompted AT1 investors to threaten legal action and other European financial authorities to distance themselves from the decision of the Swiss Financial Supervisory Authority.
Ripple’s ‘XRP Army’ Shows Why Crypto Boosters are Their Own Worst Enemy (Fortune)
On Friday, I used this column to discuss the history of Ripple, the San Francisco company that has built a business around XRP, the cryptocurrency with which it is closely tied. My account discussed Ripple’s struggles over the years to find a long-term business case but concluded on a positive note, citing the company’s claim that the past two years have been its best ever. On Saturday, I awoke to find my Twitter notifications had become a dumpster fire. The “XRP Army”—a group of thousands of online devotees—had discovered the column and taken issue with certain elements of it, informing me I was ignorant, would never become rich, and so on. I wasn’t surprised as this sort of stuff is par for the course in the world of crypto, and nor was it a big deal, especially as I long ago learned to make liberal use of Twitter’s “block” button. Still, it made me wonder what drives these people.
