Economy

Are hedge funds bad? Investors are disappointed in hedge funds

Published

2 years ago

August 8, 2022

Are hedge funds bad? This year is sure to be one of the worst years in hedge fund history. In the first six months of 2022, funds posted losses of 5.6%, according to HFR. In July, though, they rebounded by 0.5%, but nevertheless, writes the Financial Times, the sector is well on its way to its second-lowest year in a third of a century, since 1990, when they started keeping records. The only time the hedge fund market was worse than this was during the financial crisis in 2008.

Are hedge funds losing money?

Most of the problems are accounted for by so-called long-short-term funds, whose assets total about $1.2 trillion. The results of their activity depend directly on the securities market. In the first half of this year, these funds lost an average of 12%, according to HFR data. This category of funds earned only about 1% in July, according to JPMorgan’s John Schlegel calculations, well below the 7% rally in the stock market last month.

Among the hardest hit is the well-known Maverick Capital fund, which has been making double-digit returns to its investors for the past three years but lost 35% in January and June of this year. Similar losses have seen Skye Global, which has pleased investors with high returns over the past six years, but lost 10.4% in June alone. The fund was let down by a large stake in Amazon, which fell 36% in January-June 2022. However, in recent weeks, the retail giant has improved and cut its losses in half, to 19%.

Already the first signs are starting to emerge that the losses are scaring investors. While they invested a total of $13.92 billion in hedge funds last year, only $440 million in the first quarter. There was a strong outflow of funds in March, and in June it exceeded $10.1 billion, according to Citco’s fund administrator. Redemptions are expected to be $7.8 billion in the third quarter and $6.4 billion at the end of the year.

Weak performance in the first half of 2022 and investor dissatisfaction, however, have not affected the sector’s confidence in its ability to raise funds. A survey of 100 hedge funds by technology company SigTech found that nearly one-in-four (23%) expect a sharp increase in investor activity in the next two years; 60% of respondents expect a slight increase in activity and only 4% believe investor activity will decline in 2023-24.

Economy

Russian central bank says it needs months to make sure CPI falling before rate cuts -RBC

Published

4 months ago

December 26, 2023

Russian central bank says it needs months to make sure CPI falling before rate cuts -RBC

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s central bank will need two to three months to make sure that inflation is steadily declining before taking any decision on interest rate cuts, the bank’s governor Elvira Nabiullina told RBC media on Sunday.

The central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 16% earlier in December, hiking for the fifth consecutive meeting in response to stubborn inflation, and suggested that its tightening cycle was nearly over.

Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.

“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.

Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.

“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.

The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.

The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.

Economy

China identifies second set of projects in $140 billion spending plan

Published

4 months ago

December 25, 2023

China identifies second set of projects in $140 billion spending plan

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Workers walk past an under-construction area with completed office towers in the background, in Shenzhen’s Qianhai new district, Guangdong province, China August 25, 2023. REUTERS/David Kirton/File Photo

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s top planning body said on Saturday it had identified a second batch of public investment projects, including flood control and disaster relief programmes, under a bond issuance and investment plan announced in October to boost the economy.

With the latest tranche, China has now earmarked more than 800 billion yuan of its 1 trillion yuan ($140 billion) in additional government bond issuance in the fourth quarter, as it focuses on fiscal steps to shore up the flagging economy.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on Saturday it had identified 9,600 projects with planned investment of more than 560 billion yuan.

China’s economy, the world’s second largest, is struggling to regain its footing post-COVID-19 as policymakers grapple with tepid consumer demand, weak exports, falling foreign investment and a deepening real estate crisis.

The 1 trillion yuan in additional bond issuance will widen China’s 2023 budget deficit ratio to around 3.8 percent from 3 percent, the state-run Xinhua news agency has said.

“Construction of the projects will improve China’s flood control system, emergency response mechanism and disaster relief capabilities, and better protect people’s lives and property, so it is very significant,” the NDRC said.

The agency said it will coordinate with other government bodies to make sure that funds are allocated speedily for investment and that high standards of quality are maintained in project construction.

($1 = 7.1315 renminbi)

Economy

Russian central bank says it needs months to make sure CPI falling before rate cuts -RBC

Published

4 months ago

December 25, 2023

Nabiullina said it was not yet clear when exactly the regulator would start cutting rates, however.

“We really need to make sure that inflation is steadily decreasing, that these are not one-off factors that can affect the rate of price growth in a particular month,” she said.

Nabiullina said the bank was taking into account a wide range of indicators but primarily those that “characterize the stability of inflation”.

“This will take two or three months or more – it depends on how much the wide range of indicators that characterize sustainable inflation declines,” she said.

The bank will next convene to set its benchmark rate on Feb. 16.

The governor also said the bank should have started monetary policy tightening earlier than in July, when it embarked on the rate-hiking cycle.