Richard Wilson is a bestselling author, global speaker, and capital raiser focused on connecting family office investors to best-of-breed fund managers. Richard's team runs the 65,000 member Hedge Fund Group which offers the #1 hedge fund certification program, and the most frequently updated family office directory. To grab a copy of Richard's book please click here.
Emerging Market Hedge Funds See Increased Outflows
Emerging market hedge funds saw net outflows in the second quarter of 2010. This likely reflects the risk appetite among hedge fund investors today, says Ken Heinz, president of Hedge Fund Research. In the following video, Heinz explores why this trend is happening and looks at some other interesting trends in the hedge fund industry. If you are reading this via RSS or email, follow this link to watch the video.
Several of the top hedge funds reduced shares of Bank of America (BAC) and instead bet big on Citigroup Inc. (C.N). Bank of America has had a much smoother recovery from the lows of 2008 than Citigroup. But the trades by hedge funds may signal that Citigroup's stock will rise.
But the Charlotte, North Carolina-based lender's greater reliance on U.S.-based customers may now be a disadvantage in light of the weaker U.S. economic picture and tighter financial regulations, some analysts and investors said.
"Globally, there's far greater opportunity for Citigroup than for Bank of America," said Bill Fitzpatrick, analyst at Optique Capital Management.
The shifting sentiment was clear in the second quarter "Smart Money" survey compiled by Thomson Reuters from securities filings of the portfolios of 30 of the biggest fundamentally-oriented hedge funds.
Larry Robbins' Glenview Capital sold down some of its BofA position while adding to its Citi stake. Andreas Halvorsen's Viking Global Investors, Chris Shumway's Shumway Capital and Steve Mandel's Lone Pine capital all exited BofA. Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital and Thomas Claugus's GMT Capital took up new stakes in Citi. Source
Lately I have been meeting with and speaking to many experts in capital raising that collectively have raised over $100B within the hedge fund industry. One thing keeps coming up again and again while we complete these interviews for the upcoming Hedge Fund Marketing Mechanics product.
That is that while there are best practices, time saving strategies, costly mistakes to avoid, and blazed paths to follow part of the winning solution for hedge fund marketing is simply working your face off.
You have to make mistakes, take action, implement what you learn, and try what is being taught. You cannot outsource everything, you have to invest your personal time in doing these things and as Wyatt Woodsmall says knowing plus doing is when learning occurs. Simply knowing something leads to 0 growth and 0 progress, you can know everything in the world but without taking action you are not going to raise a single dollar. Jeffrey Gitomer was one of the first "sales gurus" that I was trained by and he always talked about waking up every morning and kicking your own ass. If you do this daily, and with focus you are 20x more likely to eventually succeed and raise the capital you need.
I hope this post is reassuring to those who are reaching out to potential investors daily and constantly improving their marketing materials and a source of motivation for those who have been putting it off for too many months or years without serious attention.
Tags: hedge fund marketing, hedge fund marketing best practices, hedge fund marketing strategies, hedge fund marketing training, hedge fund marketing help
Hedge Funds Buying "Insanely Cheap" Microsoft Shares
Several hedge funds recently bought up "insanely cheap" shares of Microsoft Corporation (MSFT). The giant computer software corporation has been trading around $23 a share, and in the second quarter of 2010 hedge funds including Greenlight Capital, TPG Axon, Blue Ridge, GMT Capital viewed this as too low a price.
The decline means the stock is now trading around 10 times expected earnings for the next 12 months, close to its lowest multiple on record and a 70 percent discount to peers, according to StarMine data. And taking into account Microsoft's $37 billion of cash, the true multiple is more like 8, some investors said.
"That's insanely cheap for a company of this caliber and market position," said Whitney Tilson, managing partner of T2 Partners LLC and the Tilson Mutual Funds, who bought Microsoft shares in the second quarter.
While most investors seem to have concluded that the growth days of the stock are over, a growing faction of savvy hedge funds -- including Singh's TPG Axon, Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, John Griffin's Blue Ridge and Thomas Claugus's GMT Capital -- see an undervalued opportunity in the huge and increasing profits delivered by the Windows 7 operating system and Office franchise. Source
Economic Fears Lead Hedge Funds to Cut Equity Risk
Hedge funds are responding to hints of a struggling US economy by cutting equity risk. Even hedge fund managers that doubt the probability of a double-dip recession are recognizing signs of a weakening economy and positioning their funds against taking losses like in 2008.
Now, with fresh signs of weakness in the U.S. economy, they are positioning to avoid making the same mistakes.
The shift, evident in second-quarter securities filings, is not as simple as leaving equities behind, as many small investors have been doing recently.
Instead, many money managers have shifted to more defensive investments like utilities and high dividend plays, according to a Thomson Reuters review of portfolio disclosures by 30 of the largest fundamentally-oriented hedge funds.
"You're not in that investment mindset of a few years ago any more, and a lot of risk has been taken off the table already," said Steve Goldman, senior market strategist at Weeden & Co in Greenwich, Connecticut. "The consumer is in dire straits, the economy's resilience has been disappointing, and everybody's bracing for it." Source
Parkcentral Investors Suing Ernst & Young Over Collapse
Coincidentally, this is one of two politics-related articles in the newsletter. Investors in a hedge fund managed by former presidential candidate H. Ross Perot's family office have sued Parkcentral Capital Management's accountants for allegedly assisting the fund's fraud.
The accountants, Ernst & Young, are accused by the investors of helping the fraud because the firm “audited financial statements never once warned Parkcentral’s investors of their impending doom.” Parkcentral was sued already for the collapse of its which was controlled by Perot Family Trust and other Perot-controlled entities.
Parkcentral itself was sued last year over the 2008 collapse of its $2.6 billion Global Hub hedge fund, which plaintiffs allege was controlled by the Perot Family Trust and other Perot-controlled entities. According to one lawsuit, Parkcentral misled investors about the fund’s liquidity, leverage and risk controls, leading to the complete wipe-out of the hedge fund’s value.
JPMorgan Chase has also sued Plano, Texas-based Parkcentral for defaulting on a $125 million margin call.
The plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit lost some $17 million in two Parkcentral hedge funds that collapsed. Source
Tags: Ernst & Young Perot Lawsuit, Ernst & Young Lawsuit, H Ross Perot, Family Office, Ross Perot family office, Parkcentral capital management collapse
Steve Cohen, Managers & GOP Strategists Plan Midterms
Hedge fund titan Steve Cohen reportedly hosted a meeting with Republican party operatives and fellow hedge fund managers to plot a strategy for this year's November midterm elections. Attendees included Bruce Colver of Caxton Associates, Paul Singer of Elliott Management and Daniel Senor of Rosemont Capital, as well as Republican strategists. Cohen, the hedge fund billionaire, as well as many other hedge fund managers have swung to the right, leaning more toward supporting GOP candidates and away from the Democrats they used to support.
Kovner, Singer and Senor are long-time supporters of conservative causes.
Among hedge funds, Singer’s Elliott Management is the top contributor to Republicans so far for the 2010 election cycle, giving a total of $1.1 million away, 97% of it to the GOP, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan influence tracking group.
Cohen’s SAC recently switched allegiances, giving 93% percent of its total 2010 election cycle donations to Republicans (approximately $193,000 of $207,850) through August 1, according to CRP. By contrast, SAC gave 71% of $608,694 (about $432,000) to Democrats during the 2008 election cycle. Much of it went to Chris Dodd, senator from his home state of Connecticut, who was a primary candidate for President and head of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
That switch is part of a broader trend of the hedge fund industry switching its allegiance to Republicans after donating heavily to Democrats in recent years Source
Tags: steve cohen republican, steve cohen GOP, steve cohen republican campaign contributions, steve cohen SAC political donations, campaign contributions hedge funds
Harbinger Capital Invests 40% of Assets in Telecom Firm
Philip Falcone, manager of hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, is making a huge bet on using satellites to create a wireless network that will bring broadband to parts of the country that do not have access or have very limited access to broadband.
Nearly 40% of Harbinger Capital Partners assets (or $3 billion) is invested in LightSquared, making the telecom company the hedge fund's single largest bet. Investors have already expressed concerns about the investment.
Lately, his focus has been on using satellites to build a fourth-generation wireless network that will provide broadband to underserved parts of the country. Two of Harbinger’s funds own LightSquared, a Reston, Va.-based telecommunications company. Reuters says:
Roughly $3 billion or 40 percent of Harbinger’s assets are tied-up in LightSquared, say people familiar with the funds. Formerly known as SkyTerra Communications, the telecom company is the hedge fund’s single largest and most concentrated bet.
Some of Harbinger’s investors are concerned about Falcone putting nearly all his chips on LightSquared, according to Reuters.
“We are being paid to be more skeptical these days and we are quite frankly concerned by what he seems to be doing,” said a representative for an institutional investor. Source
Hedge Fund Association to Meet Policymakers in Washington
Earlier this week we talked about a trade group representing hedge funds, now the Alternative Investment Management Association, another hedge fund association, will meet with US policymakers in September. The group, which represents over one thousand corporate members in 40 countries managing over 75% of total hedge fund assets, will meet to discuss the Dodd-Frank Act and how various measures in the Act can be applied consistently.
Hedge funds have generally heaved a sigh of relief when the financial regulatory reform bill was passed late last month, as the more controversial clauses involving the industry were left out of the legislation process. However, industry participants still have concerns over the implementation of the reform as details have yet to be spelled out.
"The industry is not sure about the scope and frequency of new record-keeping and reporting requirements. All of this is subject to detailed rule making that is in the process of being hammered out," said Kelli Moll, a partner with Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, a law firm serving over 250 hedge fund managers in the U.S. as well as in Europe.
One key area of focus in the September meetings, AIMA said, is over-the counter derivatives--a market that has until now developed largely free of regulation. Source
Related to: Alternative Investment Management Association
Tags: Alternative Investment Management Association, Alternative Investment Management Association members, Alternative Investment Management Association lobby, Alternative Investment Management Association group, Alternative Investment Management Association website
Compliance with the Investment Advisers Act Conference
Why should you attend?
Just over a month ago, the Dodd-Frank Act was signed into law. The law requires private equity and hedge fund managers with over $150 million in AUM (or $100 million if advising any separately managed accounts) to register under the Investment Advisers Act, implement policies and procedures as provided in a compliance manual and appoint a chief compliance officer.
Who should attend?
- CFOs and COOs of private equity and hedge fund managers
- In-house counsel and chief compliance officers
- Attorneys seeking to broaden legal practices
- Other service providers to fund managers
What will you learn?
This day-long seminar is a unique, hands-on training led by a distinguished panel of compliance officers, attorneys and former regulators. Not only will you develop a solid understanding of the law and its impact on private equity and hedge fund managers, but also receive practical advice on how to prepare for compliance, how to draft and file required documents, and how to draft and implement a compliance manual. You will come away from this seminar with a detailed, step-by-step plan to ensure compliance with the Investment Advisers Act.
Specifically you will learn:
- What is the new law?
- Who is impacted?
- What are the filing requirements?
- What is the role of the CCO (Chief Compliance Officer)?
- How to navigate IARD
- How to file Form ADV
- How to understand, draft and implement a compliance manual
When can I attend the conference?
The conference takes place across several cities in the United States from September to November with two opportunities to attend the conference in New York City:
New York 09/23/10
Chicago 09/30/10
San Francisco 10/05/10
Los Angeles 10/07/10
Boston 10/14/10
Greenwich 10/21/10
Miami 10/28/10
Dallas 11/04/10
Washington D.C. 11/11/10
New York 11/18/10
Registration
You can receive a $300 discount if you register one month prior to each seminar. To register for this conference visit WWW.SAGETREESEMINARS.COM
The secondary hedge fund market has reportedly lost 3% so far in August while trading by illiquid funds increased significantly. According to the co-founder of Hedgebay, "secondary market users are focussed on risk mitigation and capital raising, and this has kept the average price at a relatively low level."
The secondary hedge fund market fell 3% in August amidst trading dominated by illiquid funds.
Trading on the Hedgebay Illiquid Asset Index rose to 67% in July.
“Funds that are closed to new investment are still an extreme rarity at present.” Elias Tueta, co-founder of Hedgebay, said. “We will eventually see funds close to new investors if good performance on the primary market continues, and when we do, we will see the secondary market once again being used for its original intention – to allow hedge fund investors to access high performing funds that have closed to investors. Currently, secondary market users are focussed on risk mitigation and capital raising, and this has kept the average price at a relatively low level.” Source
Hedge funds are still lobbying heavily to influence legislation and regulation of the industry. In the second quarter of 2010, the Managed Funds Association, a trade group representing hedge funds, spent $980,000 lobbying on behalf of hedge funds. This is a decline from the $1.37 million spent in the previous quarter. This quarter's lobbying reportedly focused primarily on the oversight of derivatives.
The total is up slightly from the $950,000 that the Managed Funds Association spent on lobbying in the same quarter a year ago. But it's less than the $1.37 million spent in this year's first quarter by the lobbying organization for hedge funds, which cater to institutional investors and wealthy individuals.
According to a July 20 filing with the House clerk's office, the Managed Funds Association lobbied on proposals intended to bring greater transparency and accountability to trading of derivatives. Those controversial instruments are private bets between two parties on how the value of items such as crops or interest rates will change in the future.
The association also lobbied on a proposal that would require hedge funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Unlike mutual funds, hedge funds don't have to register with the SEC and thus don't have to disclose who runs them, how much money they manage and what securities they buy. Source
Tags: Managed Funds Association Lobbying, Managed Funds Association Lobbyists, hedge fund lobbying group, hedge funds lobbyist, Managed Funds Association advocacy
Justice Dept. Ends Probe of Hedge Funds' "Idea Dinner"
The US Justice Department has closed its investigation into several hedge funds' so-called "idea dinner". The probe looked into a February dinner attended by hedge fund managers during which they allegedly conspired to push down the value of the euro. Attendees included representatives from hedge fund heavyweights Soros Fund Management, Greenlight Capital, and SAC Capital Management.
Officials with the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division recently told representatives of several hedge funds that the six-month inquiry had been closed, said three people close to some of the funds.
That means that no action will be taken against any of the traders attending a February dinner at a New York restaurant where some participants had swapped ideas on how to profit from shorting or betting against the euro.
Federal authorities launched the inquiry days after the dinner meeting was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Soros Fund Management, Greenlight Capital, and SAC Capital Management were among the better-known hedge funds that had analysts or traders at the dinner sponsored by brokerage firm Monness Crespi Hardt & Co. These firms and others, including Paulson & Co, were then contacted by the government to save their email and trading records. Source
Hedge Funds Increase Speculative Futures on Commodities
Hedge funds are betting more now on the rising price of commodities than at any time since April 2008. Russia's drought and other global events may have led hedge funds to increase speculative holdings in futures, which rose 2.6% last week.
An index of speculative holdings in futures for 20 commodities rose 2.6 percent to almost 1.18 million contracts in the week ended Aug. 17, according to data released by the CFTC on Aug. 20. The index, compiled by Bloomberg, is derived by subtracting the short positions, or bets on lower prices, in each commodity from the long position. Net longs climbed in wheat and corn and dropped for gasoline, copper and cocoa.
“It’s not a broad-based improvement in commodities, as we’d seen before,” said Amrita Sen, an analyst at Barclays Capital in London. The net longs in wheat and corn probably rose as investors who had earlier bet on lower prices bought back futures to cover short positions after Russia banned grain exports because of a drought, she said.
Commodity assets under management gained about $8 billion in July to more than $300 billion, driven mostly by new investments, according to Barclays Capital. Wheat has jumped 51 percent since the end of June and corn is up 16 percent on speculation the Russian wheat drought will spur more demand for crops from the U.S. Source
Our team is creating an in-depth capital raising and hedge fund marketing training product that will include DVDs, Audio CDs and a workbook.
We could use 1 last capital professional to interview for this program. We are looking for someone with ideally 7 years+ of capital raising experience and a track record of raising over $100M of capital for their employer or third party marketing clients.
If you would like to be interviewed via the phone and have this audio recording included within our hedge fund marketing training product for the industry please email me directly at richard@hedgefundgroup.org
Last week I completed a short radio show interview with Samuel Ezerzer from Radio Shalom in Toronto.
On the show we talked about the state of the hedge fund industry, why the hedge fund industry is growing, how new hedge funds can raise capital, and some details about marketing and capital raising for larger hedge fund managers.
If you want to listen to the show you can visit the radio station's website and listen to the MP3 archive on the right hand side of this page. You can also download the MP3 file for the show by right clicking here.
I will be on the show again sometime this fall, I'll announce the date once it is confirmed. The radio show is on air every Wednesday at 4PM and is streamed live over the internet. Feel free to call in during the next show if you have a question for me to answer on air.
Related to: Money and Business with Samuel Ezerzer
Tags: Hedge Fund Radio Show, Hedge Funds Radio Show, Hedge Fund Managers and Radio, Hedge Fund Radio Interview, Interviews with Hedge Fund Professionals
Emerging Market Hedge Funds Suffer $1.5 Billion in Outflows
Emerging market hedge funds took a tough hit as investors pulled out more than a billion dollars. Hedge funds focused in emerging markets lost $1.5 billion in net outflows during the second quarter of 2010. This makes for the seventh quarter of the last eight quarters that emerging market hedge fund have suffered net redemptions.
Investors took money most aggressively out of hedge funds focused on Russia and emerging Asia while Latin America- and Middle East-oriented funds continued to attract cash, according to a report by Hedge Fund Research.
The findings suggest the euphoria over faster growth in emerging economies cooled substantially during the quarter as global markets felt the effects of Europe's sovereign debt crisis.
Other hedge funds, however, continued seeing fresh money come their way. The overall industry posted capital inflows of $9.6 billion during the quarter, bringing net gains for the first half of 2010 to $23 billion.
By contrast, investors took $2 billion out of emerging-market hedge funds during the first six months of the year. Source
Hedge Funds to Profit from Korea's Acquisition of Dana
Hedge funds will score big profits if an expected deal involving South Korea's oil firm goes through. The state-owned oil firm, Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC), is looking to buy a British competitor, Dana Petroleum (DNX.L). Several hedge funds, including Eton Park and Jabre Capital, are building up shares in Dana in anticipation of the acquisition although Dana's CEO seems opposed to the deal. If the deal does go through hedge funds will profit immensely from the takeover.
More than a dozen hedge funds are set to book big profits supporting South Korea's state oil firm in its pursuit of British peer Dana Petroleum (DNX.L).
The funds, including Eric Mindich's Eton Park and Philippe Jabre's Jabre Capital, have built up stakes totalling more than a third of Aberdeen-based Dana's shares, wagering the Koreans' $6.5 billion warchest and thirst for resources will prevail despite rebuffs from Dana chief executive Tom Cross.
Aside from Kraft Foods Inc's (KFT.N) pursuit of Cadbury, few European takeovers since the credit crisis have attracted as much attention -- and money -- from merger arbitrageurs, or arbs.
And they appear to have been proved right, partly thanks to their own efforts. On Friday, Korea National Oil Corp (KNOC) unveiled a hostile 1.7 billion pound ($2.6 billion) bid for Dana worth 1,800 pence per share.
Tags: Hedge Funds Dana Petroleum, Hedge Funds Dana Petroleum shares, Hedge Funds investing in Dana Petroleum, South Korea Dana Petroleum, Korea National Oil Corp
HedgeFundPremium.com, our video training platform now has 621 members and over 60 video modules.
Starting today we have adjusted the price to join the platform down from $27/month to just $19.99/month and a 10 day no risk trial for all new members.
We also just re-organized Hedge Fund Premium.com yesterday to provide more focus on the video training modules available there with a more simple website layout and video library format.
We will be adding new video modules to this resource soon. If you are one of our 600+ members and wish we had a video on some specific topic please email over your wish list and we will do your best to make videos on those very topics for the platform.
Tags: Hedge Fund Training Platform, Hedge Fund Training Platforms, Hedge Fund Training Programs, Hedge Fund Training Program, Online Hedge Fund Training Program
Video & Text of Stanley Druckenmiller's Retirement Letter
The somewhat surprising retirement of Stanley Druckenmiller and the closing of his firm Duquesne Capital Management after 30 years, has surprised many in the industry. The following video covers Druckenmiller's career from his work with George Soros to his successful career managing his hedge fund. You can read the text of his letter below, which seems to have made an impact among hedge fund managers. To view the video on our website please click here.
Text of Stanley Druckenmiller's Retirement from Duquesne Capital Management
As many of you may be aware, this is Duquesne Capital Management’s 30 year
of doing business. During that time, I have often marveled that there can hardly have
been a luckier person in the world: I have gotten to do what I love, I have had the
pleasure of delivering favorable results to clients (who have become dear friends) which
has helped them to achieve their goals, and both Duquesne and its clients have been well
rewarded in the process.
While I knew from the outset how much I enjoyed what I was doing, I had no idea
that the biggest reward for me would come from the experience of meeting and getting to
know so many wonderful people who became clients and friends. The biggest surprise
was that I would be well compensated for doing something that has been so rewarding in
other respects. I need to express to you my gratitude for the trust you placed in me, and
for the joy and satisfaction I have had from helping so many clients achieve their
aspirations – this has simply yielded a pleasure for me that I am not sure any person
deserves, and which easily transcends monetary compensation.
After much self reflection, I have decided to retire from managing client funds and I
wanted to give you prompt notice of my intentions and explain the reasons for this. I have
had to recognize that competing in the markets over such a long timeframe imposes heavy
personal costs. While the joy of winning for clients is immense, for me the disappointment
of each interim drawdown over the years has taken a cumulative toll that I cannot continue to
sustain. This is true even though to date we have delivered an unbroken record of positive
annual performance which I hope will continue for 2010 as well. And while our clients were
certainly pleased that we achieved positive results for 2008 and 2009 in a challenging
environment, as you may have surmised I was dissatisfied with those results because they did
not match my own, internal long-term standard.
You may remember that I chose to leave Soros Fund Management ten years ago
because the challenge of managing an enormous amount of capital was having a clear
impact on my ability to perform, as well as my state of being. Unfortunately, as
Duquesne has grown, these factors have again emerged. I continue to care deeply about
performing for our clients, and the stress of performing in a way that I consider to be
disappointing – even if you do not share that view – persists in exacting a high emotional
toll, with the result that I have concluded that this change is necessary.
We will be providing you with further information as to the timing and other
details of this process. I will also be hosting meetings in Pittsburgh and New York in the
upcoming weeks to express my gratitude to you face to face, and to answer any questions
you may have, and I will be forwarding to you shortly the schedule for those meetings.
It has been a wonderful experience and I am deeply grateful for your trust over
the years. I look forward to this change in my activities with excitement and anticipation
and to continuing our relationship in a more personal way.
Some large hedge funds are favoring mortgage lenders, most noticeably PMI Group Inc. (PMI). Among the hedge funds to start buying up shares of PMI is the hedge fund giant Paulson & Co. Shares in many mortgage lenders logically sunk during the sub-prime mortgage crisis but these trades suggest a new investor confidence in the lenders ability to rebound.
Some big hedge funds have taken a liking to mortgage insurers in recent months, especially PMI Group Inc. (PMI), whose stock-market value has plunged in recent years.
Paulson & Co., one of the world's largest hedge-fund firms, said in a regulatory filing late Monday that it held 5 million PMI shares at the end of June. The firm held no PMI stock at the end of March.
Blue Ridge Capital, run by former Tiger Management trader John Griffin, disclosed a new 8 million-share stake in PMI as of the end of June, according to a recent filing.
Omega Advisors, run by Leon Cooperman, almost doubled its stake in PMI to 7.93 million shares during the second quarter, another recent regulatory filing showed.
PMI shares jumped 15% to close at $3 Tuesday. The stock is up almost 19% so far this year. Source
13F Filings Show What Hedge Funds are Investing In
As we recently reported, the latest insight into what hedge funds are trading in has become available. This is through 13F filings reported from hedge funds to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Business Insider provides a brief guide to what hedge funds are trading in right now, according to these 13F filings.
John Paulson - Paulson & Co
Biggest holdings:
Exxon Mobil - 9.2 million shares
Goldman Sachs - 1 million shares
Beazer Homes USA - 5.8 million shares
Phil Falcone - Harbinger Capital
Biggest holdings:
Palm Inc - 16 million shares
Spectrum Brands - 25.8 million shares
LightSquared (wireless telecom company) - more than $2 billion
Sprint - 35 million shares
Citi - 35 million shares (down from 70 million last quarter)
SPDR - 1 million shares
Steve Mandel - Lone Pine Capital
Biggest Holdings
Cognizant Tech - 11.9 million shares ($600 million)
JPMorgan - 16.4 million shares ($600 million)
YUM Brands - 15 million shares ($590 million)
Foreign Exchange Hedge Funds Up 0.54% in July 2010
Foreign exchange hedge funds have returned half of one percent in July 2010, according to recent data. Parker Global Strategies LLC's index that follows the performance of foreign exchange hedge funds shows an increase of 0.54% last month.
The Parker FX Index returned 0.54 percent in July, compared with minus 0.05 percent during the past three months, according to a statement released today. The best-performing fund in the index returned 6.8 percent, while the worst returned minus 4.9 percent. The median return was 0.27 percent.
“In July, currency markets were defined by a significant decline in the U.S. dollar relative to most Group of 10 currencies,” the statement said. Positive news flow from Europe, and the U.S.’s weaker-than-expected 2.4 percent second quarter growth bolstered investors’ demand for higher-yielding assets.
The euro strengthened 6.7 percent against the greenback in July as the British pound advanced 5 percent and the Swiss franc gained 3.5 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Swedish krona climbed the most of any European currency, rising 8.1 percent. All of the world’s 16 most-traded currencies appreciated against the dollar last month. Source
Many hedge funds put in their latest 13-F filings and one similarity among the top funds is gold. Hedge funds have been among the biggest investors in gold in recent months as the price of the precious metal has continued to rise. Top hedge funds from Paulson & Co. to Eton Park have significant gold holdings.
Several hedge funds are out with their latest 13-F filings and one thing is clear. Gold is still hot.
Eton Park, run by former Goldmanite Eric Mindich, bought 6.58 shares of the SPDR Gold Trust in the quarter.
John Paulson remains a big gold bull, and in addition to the SPDR Gold Trust and various miners, he also announced a new 1.1 million share position in Goldman Sachs, a very substantial buy. Other major financial names he owns include Citigroup, Bank of America, and JPMorgan.
Meanwhile, at Soros, the gold ETF remains 13% of the fund's holdings. Source
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