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Macro and trend-following hedge funds dropped 3.2% this month through March 29, while algorithmic commodity trading advisor funds (CTAs) dove 6.8%. Hedge fund strategies based around macroeconomic ideas like those run by Rokos, DG Parters and EDL Capital fund posted negative performances in March, sources and bank data said. Trend-following hedge funds, which trade on systematically programmed ideas, also posted big losses. The bank decided not to change clients' borrowing limits, but it has increased diligence oversight on the hedge fund exposure, including new clients, the broker said. Trend-following funds tend to bail quickly on trades that stop working, said a pension fund director who invests in hedge funds.

☆ Jeremy Grantham's GMO says now is the time to jump into bank stocks as failures ravage the sector. Here are 2 banks it says are trading at valuations 90% cheaper than historical norms.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Big bank stocks have rarely been cheaper, says GMO's asset allocation team. Two GMO is most bullish on are JPMorgan and Bank of America. Financials-sector stocks have gotten hammered in March amid the failures of institutions like Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, and as UBS hastily acquired a troubled Credit Suisse. The eight GSIBs include: JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi, Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, Morgan Stanley, State Street, and Wells Fargo. While GMO said it couldn't comment on which seven banks it likes, it said they include JPMorgan (JPM) and Bank of America (BAC).

The remainder was equity checks by the private equity firms. Typically, debt accounts for between 60% and 80% of the deal consideration, allowing the buyout firms to juice returns. REFINANCING RISKTo be sure, a handful of private equity firms have already been accustomed to this kind of refinancing risk. An upside to the shift toward equity financing, dealmakers say, is that the companies owned by the private equity firms have more cushion to absorb losses if their business deteriorates. Many of the leveraged buyouts that became bankruptcies in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis were the result of private equity firms saddling companies with debt to the hilt.

☆ From Disney and Netflix to Warner Bros. Discovery, which entertainment giants would be the winners and losers of a Hollywood writers strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A possible Hollywood writers strike is looming at a risky time for the entertainment business. A Hollywood writers strike is looming at a precarious time for the media and entertainment industry. During that 100-day stoppage, more than 60 TV shows shut down and ratings and ad sales dropped. The landscape of entertainment options is "much more competitive than it was during the last writers strike," media consultant Peter Csathy told insider. Paramount also has an extensive live sports offering, which should offer some insulation if writers go on strike.

☆ Tech Investors in Southeast Asia Want to See the Money—Now
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Megha Mandavia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

E-commerce and games company Sea has distinguished itself with a laserlike focus on profitability. These days, profit is often the thin green line dividing loved and unloved tech shares. That makes sense in saturated e-commerce markets such as the U.S. But firms that retrench now in places like Southeast Asia, where e-commerce penetration is still relatively low, risk losing out to competitors that are able to grin and bear losses—even in a tough market environment.

☆ Why investors don't expect a dividend check from Alphabet anytime soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Coming out of the Internet bubble in 2003, Microsoft implemented a dividend for the first time in its then nearly three-decade history. Over the next decade, the software giant slowly hiked that dividend annually, while its shares languished mostly in the 20s. But despite the recent struggle in Alphabet shares, and fears over what lies ahead for the dominant search engine, big investors say a dividend isn't the best use of cash to convince investors to stay the course. Like some of its tech peers, Alphabet could pay a small dividend to "check the box for institutional investors," Meeks said. "Last thing you want to do is commit yourself to a dividend and then all of a sudden retrench it."

☆ Fortescue sees solid iron ore demand this year on China property support
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Australia's Fortescue Metals said it expects solid iron ore demand this year given China's support for its property and construction sectors, as it reported lower profit and dividends for the first half and flagged persistent inflationary pressure. Fortescue was seeing "really good" demand for its lower grade iron ore after the Chinese New Year, given compressed margins at steelmakers, Chief Executive Fiona Hicks said on Wednesday. Steelmakers tend to buy cheaper ore when their profits are under pressure. Against that backdrop, Fortescue is set to retrench up to 1,000 staff from global and local operations, the Australian newspaper reported last week. Company executives did not confirm job cuts, but founder and executive chairman Andrew Forrest said: "The typical pattern of Fortescue we grow, steady the ship, consolidate ... and grow again."

☆ Ojo, a home-listings site aiming to rival Zillow, sells its Canadian operations to Royal Bank of Canada and raises funds from Vista Equity Partners in combined deal of nearly $200 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Home-listings company Ojo Labs sold its Canadian operations to the Royal Bank of Canada. The transactions, totaling nearly $200 million, will help Ojo navigate a bumpy housing market. "We put the company in an extremely healthy cash position, while others are having to retrench," Berkowitz told Insider. These services can differentiate Ojo from Zillow and Realtor.com, which are most intently focused on the home transaction. CoStar, the real estate data giant that's reached a dominant position in commercial real estate data, has recently trained its eye on residential listing platforms.

☆ Breakingviews: Layoffs take Big Tech back to more modest future
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) plan to cut 12,000 jobs adds to the sense that U.S. technology firms are preparing for a more modest future. Tech firms based in the United States announced over 97,000 job cuts in 2022 according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas, the most since the dot-com crash. Moreover, new job postings fell sharply at the end of 2022, according to trade group CompTIA. If all tech firms did the same, that would leave employment at 4.2 million, or about 5% larger than it was at the end of 2019. loadingCONTEXT NEWSAlphabet plans to eliminate about 12,000 jobs, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Jan. 20.

☆ Wells Fargo shares fall as bank's profits cut in half by higher reserves, settlement costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

People walk past a Wells Fargo bank on 14th Street on December 20, 2022 in New York City. Wells Fargo shares came under pressure Friday after the bank reported shrinking profits, weighed down by a recent settlement and the need to build up reserves amid a deteriorating economy. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo also said last month that it would have a $2.8 billion after-tax operating loss tied to legal and regulatory costs. After excluding severance costs and a tax gain, Wells Fargo earned 61 cents a share, shy of the 66 cents analysts surveyed by Refinitiv were expecting. As the most mortgage-dependent of the six biggest U.S. banks, Wells Fargo has faced pressure as sales and refinancing activity has fallen steeply amid mortgage rates that have topped 6%.

☆ Google's most cutting-edge moonshot lab is refocusing on actually making money
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

I'm Matt Weinberger, deputy editor of Insider's tech analysis team, filling in for my colleague Diamond Naga Siu for the next few days. It's yet another sign that the tech industry is very different than it was even a year ago. A moonshot in the foot for Google: Insider's Hugh Langley reports that Google's X Development is scaling back from its pioneering, famously envelope-pushing roots as a tech research lab. Instead, it'll focus on initiatives that actually make money for Google and its parent company Alphabet. Read Insider's in-depth review of the newest model of the iPad Pro, released in late 2022.

☆ Did the market already show its hand in the first week of 2023? What we've learned so far
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Recall that at the start of last year, the popular bet was for a smooth and painless rotation from expensive growth stocks to financials and cyclicals. It didn't last: The S & P financial sector trounced utilities by seven percentage points in just the first week of 2022. Yet the Nasdaq 100 's premium to the overall S & P 500 remains at 25% — higher than at any point in the decade before the Covid pandemic hit. And the broader tape, as measured by the equal-weighted S & P 500, continues to act better than the top-heavy headline index. This egalitarian basket, buyable via the Invesco S & P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) , is up 16% from the autumn low, is down less than 12% from its record high and has broken to a new cycle high against the traditional S & P 500.

☆ Inflation struggles, China's Covid: What to watch for in the economy in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Shannon-Pettypiece-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Shannon Pettypiece | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

But economists and CEOs warn the economy will remain on shaky ground in 2023, which could mean another turbulent year for consumers. After months of strict lockdowns that caused rolling disruptions to supply chains and greatly stifled demand from Chinese consumers, China began lifting its Covid restrictions in recent weeks. “The most important thing for 2023 is by far China’s Covid policy,” Dan Klein, the head of energy pathways at S&P Global Commodity Insights. Covid infections have continued to shut down factories around the world, aggravated by China’s loosening of Covid restrictions. In the meantime, with demand outstripping supply, car prices are up by nearly 24% over the past two years.

☆ If 8% inflation is worrying, 3% could be worse
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( John Foley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

But what if inflation doesn’t go back to 2%, and instead sticks somewhere higher, like 3%? Some measures suggest that inflation is coming down, such as the sharp drop in how long it’s taking manufacturers to get deliveries. For a central bank, the nightmare scenario is one where inflation subsides to a level above its target and then plateaus. Some Democrats already argue the Fed’s rate hikes hurt the poor; some Republicans blame Powell for letting inflation run amok in the first place. Rate hikes could trigger a recession, a state that’s painful but has tended to bring inflation down quickly in the past.

☆ Insiders cast doubt on Warner Bros. Discovery's plans after it axed, then reinstated, a revered TV writers' workshop. It highlights a 'huge crisis' facing Hollywood creatives.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Elaine Low | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Discovery abruptly axed, then reinstated, its longstanding TV writers' training program. Numerous TV writers told Insider they would not have been able to establish their careers without the TV workshop. The WBTV workshops not only developed emerging talents, but also helped ease their way into paid work in Hollywood. But even with Zaslav examining every asset across the company to find a promised $3 billion in synergies, the WBTV writers' and directors' workshops seemed unlikely targets. "The training is just phenomenal," a third alum of the writers' workshop told Insider.

☆ Banks close painful Citrix debt chapter with $700 mln loss -source
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Abigail Summerville | Matt Tracy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Citrix Systems logo is seen on smartphone placed on U.S. While the syndication was completed successfully, it was done at a steep discount to the levels that the banks underwrote the debt. It was also buoyed by one of Citrix's acquirers, hedge fund Elliott Management, helping out by buying $1 billion in bonds, a second source said. They also sold a $4 billion three-year Citrix bond for 83.6 cents on the dollar, resulting in a higher than expected yield of 10%, the sources added. More debt syndication pain for the banks is on the way.

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