Herbalife Continues to Soar As Company Prepares to Answer Pyramid Scheme Accusations (Benzinga)
Shares of Herbalife (NYSE: HLF [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) soared 12 percent on Monday, and tacked on nearly another three percent Wednesday along with broader market indicies. Herbalife suffered a 37 percent drop in 2012 as hedge fund magnate Bill Ackman accused the company of running a pyramid scheme. In May, Einhorn questioned company officials about the Herbalife business model resulting in a loss of 20 percent the next day.
Big Hedge Fund Whacked (WallStreetPit)
One of the biggest leveraged hedge funds in the world got hit with a 2×4 during the 4th Q. This fund has a mixed bag of assets, but was heavily exposed to big FX positions. The fund made a big “bet” recently when they went short EURYEN. This turned sour in a very big way; the EURYEN moved an incredible 14 big figures against them in just 60 trading days. Street players, who know of this currency spec, refer to it as a “Size” position. At the end of Q3, it came to a lumpy short $40B. There were rumors that the fund added to the short during the Q (not confirmed yet). But even if the book was kept static, the mark-to-market loss comes to $5+B. That’s serious money to anyone.
Hedge funds gain $75bn in 2012 – Eurekahedge data (InvestmentEurope)
The data provider, which monitors some 26,000 products including hedge funds, funds of funds, Ucits, private equity, Islamic and property funds, said managers faced a difficult trading environment over the period. Markets were hit by risk-on and risk-off modes driven by political and macro events rather than fundamentals. The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 1% in December, bringing the yearly number to 5.63%. The MSCI World Index1 returned 2.28% in December and was up 13.75% for year 2012.
US Attorney Preet Bharara and other financial heavyweights opposing Paul Singer’s attempt to get Argentina to pay debt (NYPost)
A growing list of financial and legal heavyweights are playing pile-on Paul Singer. US Attorney Preet Bharara and BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) CEO Larry Fink are among the latest bold-faced names to oppose Singer’s attempt to get Argentina to pay him and others $1.3 billion on defaulted debt. Singer, the hedge fund billionaire who runs Elliott Management, is among the 8 percent of Argentina debtholders who refused to accept a 70 percent haircut following a 2001 default by the embattled South American country.
Brie Larson Will Star in First Feature Produced by George Soros’ Nephew (ShowBiz411)
Exclusive: Billionaire philanthropist and Democratic fundraiser George Soros has a nephew named Jeffrey, who also happens to lead the board of directors for Los Angeles’s Museum of Contemporary Art. And now Jeffrey, well endowed with funds to produce movies, is going to make his first feature. I’m told “Basmati Blues,” shot entirely in India, will star up and comer Brie Larson (“United States of Tara”). The blonde ingenue has five films just about in the can including the directorial debut of actor Joseph Gordon Levitt and a possible new film from the great Peter Bogdanovich. The word is that Larson is about to get a push along the lines of Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain.
Nouriel Roubini: US fiscal talks will ‘soon get messy’ (EmergingMarkets)
In an opinion article in the Financial Times, Roubini said that the deal did prevent the US economy from falling of the fiscal cliff, but added that “given the dysfunctional nature of the American political system, it won’t be long before there is another crisis.” Analysts have warned that the deal was just a temporary solution, as it did not include the thorny issue of raising the debt ceiling, nor spending cuts.
Buffett Like Icahn Reaping Tank Car Boom From Shale Oil (BusinessWeek)
Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn are reaping the benefits of surging demand for railroad tank cars to haul shale oil from beyond the reach of existing pipelines. Buffett’s Union Tank Car Co. is working at full capacity and Icahn’s American Railcar Industries Inc. (ARII) has a backlog through 2014. Trinity Industries Inc. (TRN), the biggest railcar producer, began converting wind-tower factories last year to help meet demand for train cars that can transport the petroleum product.
