The Next Billion (Barrels of Oil): T. Boone Pickens Calls for Energy Plan at Stansberry Society Event (CountingPips)
Known for his saying that “the first billion is the hardest,” oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens addressed the Stansberry Society Conference in Dallas at the end of May with a plea for a national energy plan that takes advantage of the billions of barrels of oil being produced each day in the U.S. for domestic use. First addressing the audience, and then in conversation with event host Porter Stansberry, followed by an all-star energy investing panel, the Pickens Plan advocate was optimistic about the prospects for growing the country and individual investment portfolios through smart use of natural resources.
San Francisco tables hedge fund discussion for 90 days (PIOnline)
San Francisco City & County Employees’ Retirement System Chief Investment Officer William Coaker Jr. will have to wait at least 90 days before the pension fund’s board passes judgment on his plan to invest 15% of the pension fund’s $19 billion in assets in hedge funds. Mr. Coaker was pushing for board approval at the pension fund’s monthly meeting Wednesday of his portfolio restructuring plan, which reduces equity and fixed-income exposure, and creates a new $3 billion allocation to hedge funds. The plan also includes a new 12% allocation to alternative equity strategies. But board members by a 6-1 vote tabled the matter for 90 days for further study.
Hedge funds cross USD1.2 trillion in May… Difficult month for Asian funds … (HedgeWeek)
Hedge funds ended May in positive territory with the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index up 1.15 per cent as global markets showed signs of stabilisation following a choppy start to the year. On a year-to-date basis, hedge funds are up 1.91 per cent while the MSCI World Index has returned 2.63 per cent in the first five months of 2014. Global hedge funds crossed the USD2.1 trillion mark in May as fund managers delivered performance-based gains of USD9.29 billion during the month. Hedge funds recorded their fourth consecutive month of positive asset flows with net capital allocations of almost USD60 billion year-to-date.
Fivestar Readies Dollar-Denominated Japan Stock Fund (Finalternatives)
Japan’s Fivestar Asset Management will launch a dollar-denominated hedge fund focused on the country, seeking to tap growing interest from overseas investors. The new fund will employ the same strategy as Fiverstar’s two-month-old Shinbi Japan Equity Long Short Fund, Bloomberg News reports. That fund, which is denominated in yen, debuted at the end of March and has been roughly flat since then. Between the dollar- and yen-denominated versions of the strategy, Fivestar hopes to raise about ¥10 billion (US$100 million) over the next year.
Billionaire Singer’s Argentine Debt Payoff Faces Delay (BusinessWeek)
Bondholders are signaling that Argentina’s decade-long legal dispute with billionaire Paul Singer over its defaulted debt won’t be resolved any time soon. Government notes due 2033 have returned 6 percent since May 27, when the U.S. Supreme Court said it would hold a hearing today to consider taking the nation’s appeal of a ruling forcing it to repay creditors led by Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. when it services restructured debt. That’s more than triple the average 1.2 percent gain in emerging markets. The advance shows investors are confident the high court will take the case or seek counsel from the Solicitor General, delaying a final ruling and ensuring Argentina continues to pay bondholders, AllianceBernstein LP said…
Fort Lauderdale Police & Fire eyes opportunistic hedge funds (PIOnline)
Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Police & Fire Retirement System is considering going into opportunistic hedge funds, said Fred Nesbitt, director of public information. The $779 million pension fund currently has a single hedge fund-of-funds manager, EnTrust Capital, which runs $38 million. Following an educational presentation by EnTrust on its special opportunities fund-of-funds separate account at the pension fund’s board meeting on Wednesday, the board voted to bring in two or three opportunistic managers to make presentations at its Sept. 10 meeting.
Closing Bell Exchange: Oil’s impact on retail (CNBC)
Loeb Now Backs Sotheby’s CEO (Finalternatives)
Daniel Loeb has changed his tune on Sotheby’s CEO William Ruprecht. During an ugly, months-long battle with the auction house that ended last month, Loeb repeatedly blasted Ruprecht’s “lack of leadership and strategic vision” and demanded that he step down. Now, as a member of Sotheby’s board, Loeb is standing with his fellow directors “behind the management team led by Bill Ruprecht.” The about-face came in a letter to Sotheby’s employees signed by the company’s entire board, including Loeb and two other Third Point-picked directors…
Tiger Affiliates Make Hay in May (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
New York-based Tiger Global Management’s hedge funds surged 8 percent in May and are now up 8.5 percent for the year, making the firm one of several hedge fund firms with roots in Julian Robertson Jr.’s Tiger Management who posted strong months in May. The Tiger Global funds, headed by Charles (Chase) Coleman and Feroz Dewan, gained 1 percent in the first quarter despite dropping 2.7 percent in March. They then lost about 0.5 percent in April. O. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global Equities, managed out of…
What Worries Nouriel Roubini About Global Growth? (MarketPulse)
Nouriel Roubini says many of the risks to the global economy have abated and things are looking up. Thanks to bold moves by the world’s central banks, global economic growth this year should be closer to 2% rather than the “anemic” 1% of the past few years, Roubini said at an event hosted by Aberdeen Asset Management in New York. But — and there’s always a but — Roubini has a list of six things he believes could derail the economic recovery. It’s worth remembering that Roubini correctly predicted the housing crisis and ensuing financial crash in 2008.
Hedge Fund Inflows Jump (Finalternatives)
Investors added more money to hedge funds this month than in any of the last four, according to SS&C Technologies. The SS&C GlobeOp Capital Movement Index rose 1.01% in June to hit “their highest levels in four months,” SS&C CEO Bill Stone said. The metric measures net subscriptions and redemptions received by hedge funds administered on SS&C’s GlobeOp platform. SS&C also said that hedge funds returned 1.04% last month.
Hedge Fund Myriad Says Weaker Yuan to Stay (WSJ)
The surprising slide in the Chinese yuan this year has a lot further to go, says hedge fund manager Carl Huttenlocher, who runs Myriad Asset Management Ltd., one of Hong Kong’s largest home-grown funds. In an ultra bearish view on the currency, Mr. Huttenlocher said he sees the yuan falling 11% by 2016, hitting 7 yuan to the dollar. The currency was at 6.2166 Thursday, having fallen about 3% so far this year in a Beijing engineered slide aimed at shaking at speculators betting on gains. A higher number means a weaker yuan.
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