Business

It has been a terrible year for hedge funds, not only in terms of performance but more importantly when it comes to keeping LPs and investors happy and invested, and it is only getting worse.

Recall that in recent weeks some very prominent alternative money managers have been slammed with major substantial requests such as Brevan Howard which was served with an cash call for $1.4 billion, and Tudor which has seen $1 billion in redemptions, while New York City’s pension for civil employees voted this month to pull $1.5 billion from hedge funds.

Despite equity prices soaring to within inches of all-time record highs, it appears 'rich' Americans are no longer impressed by The Fed's handiwork. As Bloomberg's Consumer Comfort index slumps to its weakest since Dec 2015, high-income (over $75k) Americans suffered their biggest plunge in confidence since October 2013 seemingly unable to revive their animal spirits as much as CFOs and their buybacks.

High income Americans confidence typically lags stock market performance by about 4 weeks but has broken this time...

The coming ‘sharia gold standard’ or shariah compliant gold could lead to a very significant source of  new demand for physical gold coins and bars in the Islamic world. It is believed that this will contribute to much higher prices and gold “soaring” as some of the $2 trillion of assets held in Islamic financial institutions are allocated to the very small physical global gold market. 

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

First there were seventeen. At length, there was one.

Donald Trump’s wildly improbable capture of the GOP nomination, therefore, is the most significant upheaval in American politics since Ronald Reagan. And the proximate cause is essentially the same. Like back then, an era of drastic bipartisan mis-governance has finally generated an electoral impulse to sweep out the stables.

Update: The selling continues as the market opens...

The battle between Elon Musk and Jim Chanos continues in the pre-market as non-GAAP exuberance is trumped by epic cash burns and reality-checks from hedge fund managers. The after-hours panic-buying algos appear to have enabled more than a few to exit in a hurry...

Even with near record short-interest...

The squeeze couldn't hold...