George Soros Made A Huge Bet That Stocks Will Fall (BusinessInsider)
It seems legendary hedge fund billionaire George Soros might be souring in his view on the market outlook for U.S. stocks, based on his most recent 13-F filing in the U.S., which showed a 605% increase in his short S&P 500 position (through put options on 11.29 million shares of SPDR S&P 500 ETF) to $2.2 billion. In a 13-F filing three months ago, Soros’ fund had puts on 1.6 million shares, valued at $299.264 at the time. Even though he is still net long stocks, this took the short position (where he owns an option which will profit from a fall in stocks prices) on the S&P 500 from 2.96% of his Soros Funds Management Portfolio to a whopping 16.65%.
Cliffs director resigns; miner must pay ex-CEO $11 million (Reuters)
One of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE:CLF)‘s few incumbent directors has stepped down and delivered a stinging resignation letter, filings showed on Friday, as the miner separately said it was on the hook for millions of dollars in payments to its former chief executive officer and others in the wake of a proxy fight. Timothy Sullivan was one of a minority of Cliffs directors re-elected after hedge fund Casablanca Capital triumphed in a proxy battle last month. He had chaired the compensation committee since July 2013. In his letter, Sullivan said he said he had initially been looking forward to continuing at Cliffs, but his view changed after the new board’s first meeting.
Hedge Fund Branding Continues To Drive A Majority Of Asset Flows (Investing)
Since the market correction of 2008, a vast majority of hedge fund net asset flows have gone to a small minority of hedge funds with the strongest brands, marking a change from the pre-2008 environment. A brand is an investor’s perception of the overall quality of a hedge fund based on multiple evaluation factors that evolve over time. A high-quality brand takes a long time to develop, but once achieved, it significantly enhances a firm’s ability to raise capital and retain assets during a drawdown in performance.
Don’t Read Too Much Into Hedge Fund Holdings (Nasdaq)
There is something extremely reassuring about having our biases confirmed, and that is the only reason I can see for the general fascination that surrounds the quarterly filing of hedge fund positions with the SEC. The disclosure forms, known as 13F filings, always attract attention but in reality they tell us nothing for several reasons. They are a snapshot of the holdings of hedge funds at the close of the quarter that were released yesterday. In other words, by the time we see the information it is already 45 days out of date, and 45 days is a lifetime in a trading environment…
All That Glitters Is Gold For Hedge Fund Paulson & Co. (Finalternatives)
Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson stuck with his holding in the biggest exchange-traded product backed by gold as prices rose on demand for a haven. Paulson & Co., the largest investor in the SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:GLD), kept its stake at 10.23 million shares in the three months ended June 30, a government filing showed yesterday. The holdings were unchanged for the fourth straight quarter. Gold rallied 9.3 percent in 2014, defying bearish forecasts from Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) and outperforming equities and bonds amid escalating conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Next fight for hedge funds (CNBC)
