Hedge Fund News: Paul Singer, Stanley Druckenmiller, Alan Howard

Paul Singer: ‘Cushion to Withstand Risks Is Very Low’ (CNBC)
Paul Singer thinks the recent dramatic move in the Swiss franc—and resulting losses—shows just how exposed most investors are to market risk. “Given the pricing and the still opaque and over-levered financial system, the sensitivity … to risks is extremely high … and the cushion to withstand risks is very low,” the founder of Elliott Management said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

Scene Last Night: Druckenmiller, Julianne Moore, Harvard Pudding (Bloomberg)
Private investor Stanley Druckenmiller and nonprofit leader Geoffrey Canada headlined a Bowdoin College event in New York last night as actress Julianne Moore picked up an honor on Park Avenue and Harvard’s Hasty Pudding finalized plans to fete music industry executive Clive Davis. Oh, and President Barack Obama in his State of the Union talked of helping working families by closing “loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth.”

Brevan Howard’s Biggest Fund Said to Avoid Loss on Swiss Turmoil (Bloomberg)
Brevan Howard Asset Management’s largest hedge fund has so far avoided losses after the Swiss central bank scrapped its cap on the franc, helping the pool to rebound this year, said a person with knowledge of the matter. The Brevan Howard Master Fund, managed by billionaire Alan Howard, was up 1.88 percent in the month through Jan. 16, compared with 1.09 percent as of Jan. 9, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. The pool had a 0.8 percent loss last year, its first annual decline since it started trading in 2003.

Andurand Fund Sees Oil at or Below $40 for Up to Six Months (Bloomberg)
Pierre Andurand, whose hedge fund gained 38 percent in 2014 from a well-timed wager that oil prices would fall, expects a further slide to $40 a barrel or lower that could last for as long as six months. West Texas Intermediate could plunge to the high $30s from $46.47 and brent crude could slip to $40, the manager of the London-based hedge fund firm wrote in a letter to clients that was obtained by Bloomberg News.