Investors in general may have been celebrating Japan’s new stimulus policy for the past year. However, Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio believes Japan’s economy still needs a lot more pumping to sustain an economic resurgence. Speaking at the Japan Society in Manhattan last Friday, Dalio, who heads up the largest hedge fund firm in the world with more than $83 billion at year-end, also warned that the reeling emerging markets are headed to a major crisis. “The effects are going to wear off,” Dalio said, referring to the stimulus measures already undertaken in Japan. Japan’s central bank is “going to have to do another big round of purchases.” Dalio also asserted: We are “going to have the emerging market crisis,” adding that India should “prepare for the worst” since it has already been one of the biggest beneficiaries of foreign capital. He also expressed concerns about France since “it has not dealt properly with debt to income ratios rising.”
—
Retired hedge fund manager and environmentalist Tom Steyer is playing a big role trying to block the controversial Keystone XL pipeline. The founder of Farallon Capital Management confirmed he is supporting a four-part, $1 million advertising campaign to convince Americans that the pipeline, which is expected to generate a large number of jobs, will hurt the economy and communities. He claims in one ad that much of the oil that would be shipped from Alberta to refineries along the Gulf Coast would wind up being exported. “Foreign countries will get more access to more oil to make more products to sell back to us, undercutting our economy,” Steyer reportedly says in the ad. “Here’s the truth: Keystone oil will travel through America not to America.” Steyer retired at the end of last year to devote more time to politics, charities and the environment.
—
J.C. Penney’s stock Friday rose for the fifth straight day after William Ackman’s New York hedge fund firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, unloaded its entire 39-million share stake in the embattled retailer. It is now trading at $14.27, up more than 13 percent from its August 29 low. Among the hedge fund buyers in recent days and weeks have been New York City-based Perry Capital, New York City-based Glenview Capital Management and Dallas-based Hayman Capital.
—
Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners raised its stake in Oil States International to 6.45 million shares from a little more than 5.2 million shares at the end of June. In a regulatory filing, the New York hedge fund firm said the 6.45 million shares include 10,000 call options to buy 1 million shares with a strike price of $80 and expire on October 11. The stock closed Friday at $95.28, so you can probably count those option-related shares as a likely part of his holdings.
—
Perella Weinberg Partners has closed down and is liquidating the Perella Weinberg Partners Tokum Fund, a hedge fund that focused on medical and pharmaceutical companies. It is also closing the MS Perella Weinberg Partners Tokum Long/Short Healthcare UCITS Fund, a London-based joint venture with Morgan Stanley. According to a report, Tokum has posted mediocre performance — up 3.10 percent in 2010, 9.01 percent in 2011, 2.51 percent in 2012 and down 2.24 percent in the first half of 2013.
