A Hedge Fund Manager Who Doesn’t Mind a Losing Bet (NYTimes)
Meet Mark Spitznagel, the hedge fund manager who doesn’t mind a losing bet. Mr. Spitznagel, the founder of Universa Investments, which has around $6 billion in assets under management, says the stock market is going to fall by at least 40 percent in one great market “purge.” Until then, he is paying for the option to short the market at just that point, losing money each time he does. There is no shortage of market bears who take a grim view of the stock market. But Mr. Spitznagel has gained credibility in the investment world by predicting two market routs in the past decade, first in 2000 and then in 2008.
Share Buybacks Are the Apple of Carl Icahn’s Eye (InstitutionalInvestor)
Dinner plans with Apple CEO Tim Cook rocketed around the investment world on August 22 via the magic of Twitter. The source was none other than activist investor Carl Icahn, who had tweeted: “Spoke to Tim. Planning dinner in September. Tim believes in buyback and is doing one. What will be discussed is magnitude.” A commitment earlier this year to earmark $60 billion for share buybacks over the next three years, aimed at placating Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shareholders, fixated on the company’s $150 billion mountain of idle cash…
Rogers: ‘Hopelessly managed’ India could suffer EM crisis (InvestmentWeek)
Legendary investor Jim Rogers has warned a ‘hopelessly managed’ India could experience a full-blown emerging markets crisis. In an interview with Business Insider, Rogers said a crisis could potentially erupt in badly managed countries, citing India as an example. “Look at India. India is hopelessly managed and finally the wolf is now at the door,” he said. “I do not know what Indian politicians are going to do, as they keep trying to blame everybody in sight except admitting their problems.”
China’s economic growth more like 4%: Marc Faber (MoneyControl)
China’s economy is probably growing at an annual rate of 4 percent, said Marc Faber, editor and publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report, brushing aside a recent string of upbeat economic numbers from the world’s second biggest economy. “I said to an economist I think China is growing at 4 percent per annum and he said do you mean minus 4 percent?,” Faber told CNBC on the sidelines of a hedge fund conference in Singapore on Wednesday. “I don’t think [China’s economic growth] is minus 4 percent, but we do have to adjust a lot of economic statistics for the credit that has been pushed into the system that is not sustainable in the long-run,” he added.
Hedge Funds Lag the Market, But Their Top Stock Picks Outperform (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Let’s face it: Barring a miracle, the average hedge fund is poised to lag the S&P 500 for the fifth straight year. Through August, hedge funds on average were up 4 percent or so, depending on the database you cite. This works out to about one quarter of the gain posted by the widely followed benchmark. Hedge fund defenders will argue that hedge funds often lag the market during strongly positive years and that you have to look at their risk-adjusted returns over time.
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