April
Data service HFR’s hedge fund performance index fell 3.1% in March, the worst monthly plunge since March 2020.
The Citadel fund, Millennium Management, & the Balyasny Fund gave back 1.9, 1.2, & 4.3% respectively, people familiar with the numbers told the Financial Times.
Since the Iran War began, Turkey’s central bank has sold or loaned about $20b worth of its gold bullion.
The transactions have been a major cause of the metal’s 11% price decline since 1 March, the F T said, marking gold’s worst month since 2008 when the Great Recession began.
Apr 15
Franklin Templeton, the mutual funds giant, is buying 250 Digital, a crypto investment management venture spun off in January from CoinFund, a venture capital firm focused on digital asset businesses.
250 Digital will be renamed Franklin Crypto - price & terms were not publicized.
In March, the worlds hedge funds sold the greatest volume of assets in more than 4 years, Reuters reported, as global economic volatility roiled market values.
The funds were net sellers of stocks in March for the 4th consecutive month & sold them at the fastest clip since 2013.
Apr 9
Wishing all Catholics a peaceful and wonderful Easter.
Oil traders have spotted a pattern in Donald Trump’s rhetorical behavior regarding the Iran War, the FT reported. Over weekends, when oil markets are closed, his rhetoric becomes more bellicose and hawkish toward Iran to try to bully officials there toward settlement or surrender.
When markets are open, Trump is more likely to hint that secret peace talks are under way or make other comments designed to tamp down oil’s price.
Posts
Private equity deals stall amid pressures of war and AI.
In the three months ending 1 March, the value of private equity acquisitions fell 36% from the previous quarter, to $172 billion, the Financial Times reported.
The value was 8% less than the same period a year earlier.
NVESTORS FLEE JUNK BONDS.
During the past 30 days, investors yanked an average of $2.7 billion a week out of the junk bond market.
The withdrawal rate was 24 times what it was during the previous four weeks, JPMorgan analysts reported.
As investors dumped bonds. Yields on the 10-year U.S. treasury note went up 0.38%; the return on Britain’s equivalent bonds climbed 0.7%.
The exception has been China. Its 10-yield bond yields have dipped, a signal that investors’ demand for them has gone up as the war continues
