Political Agenda Added Risk To the Hedge Fund Market In October (HedgeCo)
New research from Eurekahedge shows that hedge funds delivered healthy gains in October as global markets trended upwards during the month. “US related news dominated global markets for most of the month starting with the 16 day partial shutdown of the government.” The company said, “Political wrangling in the US Congress over the debt limit added risk to the markets, with equities declining at the start of the month. The shutdown was ended mid-month, which saw equities gain traction. Positive macroeconomic data throughout the month as well as the expectation that the US Federal Reserve will postpone tapering added further impetus to global markets.”
Man Group employees feel the squeeze at Riverbank House in London (FT)
Man Group employees are feeling the squeeze at the struggling hedge fund, with staff at its London headquarters being shunted into just one-and-a-half floors of the nine-story building it opened to great fanfare in 2011. One senior executive based at the HQ on the banks of the Thames said: “We are being shoved into a much smaller area, which people aren’t really happy about it. Our fund assets are shrinking and so it seems is our floor space.” The world’s second-largest hedge fund company has seen its assets under management fall from a peak of almost $80bn in 2008 to $52.5bn, while some 700 employees have left since Man Group merged with rival GLG Partners in 2010.
Jewish Tycoons William Ackman and Dan Loeb in Vicious Feud Over Herbalife (Forward)
It’s a financial dogfight for the ages. When billionaire investor and CEO of Pershing Square Capital hedge fund William Ackman short-sold $1 billion in stock of Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), the Los Angeles-based nutrition company, he drew the ire not just of the company, but of other fellow hedge funders who saw Ackman as taking his legendary arrogance too far. In a speech at the Oxford University Saïd Business School at the end of October, Ackman said the company was nothing more than a Ponzi schemeand that his target share price for Herbalife stock was $0. He predicted the business would collapse “within 12 months,” Business Insider reported.
Jim Rogers: I‘m Buying Chinese Stocks Including HollySys And Fab Universal (Forbes)
The first time I talked with famed investor Jim Rogers face-to-face, it was on the high-speed train from Tianjin to Beijing. It was almost mid-night. After a full day of ceremonies and events, he was thoroughly exhausted, yet still managed to stand for the duration of our on-camera interview traveling at 350km per hour during perhaps his only chance for rest that day. This time around, circumstances are much better. We’re sitting in a hotel suite close to Central Park in New York. With the help of an iced coke, he was bright-eyed. And, he’s only done three over-night flights during the past couple of days. Not bad at all.
Economist Marc Faber sees bubbles throughout financial landscape (IFA)
Well-known Swiss economist Marc Faber, also known as Dr. Doom, sees bubbles everywhere. ‘I see a bubble in everything that relates to the financial sector,’ Faber told CNBC on Tuesday. ‘If you look at the financial sector as a percentage of the global economy, it’s very large. We have a huge debt bubble, and it’s only getting bigger. It’s not getting any smaller.’ Faber argued that the bubble is being fed by central banks and could even worsen if Janet Yellen takes over as the Federal Reserve’s next Chairman. Faber believes she is part of a ‘collection of dovish professors at the Fed’ and that she could push for more bond buying instead of tapering. Faber also sees a big bubble in high-end sectors, like diamonds, art, and luxury goods where costs and competition have risen.
Recommended Reading:
Privet Fund Reports Upping Position in StarTek
Starboard Value, Elliott Associates Sell Shares of Emulex Corporation
Zac Hirzel, Hirzel Capital Management Go Activist on Aeropostale
