Hedge fund buys extra help (FT)
Hedge fund company Bridgewater Associates has divided opinion with a “transformative” new approach to asset servicing, bringing in Northern Trust to duplicate and back up the work of its existing administrator BNY Mellon. The arrangement, which goes live in 2014 and has been hailed as unprecedented in the asset management industry, is a result of an “extensive two-year due diligence process to identify a firm with the financial stability, expertise, global scale, and technological infrastructure to support Bridgewater”, Northern Trust said in a statement.
Hedgies fall short but investors happy (FT)
The highly paid alchemists of the hedge fund industry once held out the promise of racy returns, or at the very least solid gains over a market cycle. But over the past five years these market maestros have, in aggregate, eked out a cumulative gain of just 7.8 per cent, according to Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research, well below many funds’ target annual return of 300-400 basis points above Libor.
Soros’ liberal think-tank releases ‘demands’ for gun control (BizPacReview)
As a result of Vice President Joe Biden’s task force to explore changes to gun laws, the Center for American Progress, an influential liberal think-tank funded by George Soros, has released 13 recommendations to “prevent gun violence in our nation.” Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, told Fox News Sunday that her group will “absolutely” mount a full-scale campaign to push for more gun control.
Hungary Says Forint Falling On Roubini Advice (WSJ)
Hungary’s economy ministry said Monday investors are speculating against the Hungarian forint on the advice of a financial analyst, and that is why it is weakening significantly against the euro. “Nouriel Roubini, one of the most influential financial analysts in the world, recommended to take a forint short position in an investment note,” the ministry said in a statement. “It seems that speculators have taken Mr. Roubini’s advice and started their attack on the forint,” the ministry said.
Transocean Says Icahn Acquired 1.6% of Shares, Seeks More (BusinessWeek)
Transocean LTD (NYSE:RIG), the world’s largest offshore rig contractor, said billionaire investor Carl Icahn and his affiliates have acquired a 1.56 percent stake in the company and are seeking to expand that to more than 3 percent. Transocean said Icahn notified the company that he’s seeking regulatory approval to potentially acquire shares worth more than $682.1 million, according to a statement yesterday on its website. The move came 10 days after Transocean said it agreed to pay $1.4 billion in penalties for its role in the worst U.S. maritime oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. Transocean shares lost more than half their value in the months following the spill and remain 41 percent below their pre-spill price.
Hedge Funds Cut Bets to Six-Month Low Before Rally (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds cut bullish commodity wagers to the lowest since June before prices rallied to a two- month high on signs of a rebound in Chinese economic growth. Speculators trimmed net-long positions across 18 futures and options by 5.4 percent to 654,443 contracts in the week ended Jan. 8, the lowest since June 19, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Wagers on a corn rally dropped for a fifth week before a reduction in U.S. stockpile data sparked the biggest jump in prices in five months. Gold holdings fell to the lowest since August as the metal snapped a six-week slump.
