Opening Bell: 2.1.16
U.S. Hedge Funds Mount New Attacks on China’s Yuan (WSJ)
Kyle Bass’s Hayman Capital Management has sold off the bulk of its investments in stocks, commodities and bonds so it can focus on shorting Asian currencies, including the yuan and the Hong Kong dollar. It is the biggest concentrated wager that the Dallas-based firm has made since its profitable bet years ago against the U.S. housing market. About 85% of Hayman Capital’s portfolio is now invested in trades that are expected to pay off if the yuan and Hong Kong dollar depreciate over the next three years—a bet with billions of dollars on the line, including borrowed money
IPO Market Comes To A Standstill (WSJ)
There were no U.S. IPOs in January, the first monthlong drought since September 2011, when the eurozone crisis was in full swing and the debt rating of the U.S. had just been downgraded, according to data provider Dealogic. Investors and analysts attribute the dearth to the global stock-market rout of the first two weeks of the year, which signaled a broad retreat from risk by investors.
Barclays, Credit Suisse Agree to Dark Pools Settlements (Bloomberg)
Barclays will pay $70 million, split evenly between the two enforcers, the largest fine levied on a dark pool operator, the SEC said Sunday in a statement. Credit Suisse will pay $84.3 million, according to the statement. That payment includes $24.3 million to the SEC for disgorgement and interest, with the remainder shared evenly between the two authorities.
Activists’ Sway Shows Its Limits (WSJ)
Mr. Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP’s publicly traded fund reported a negative return of 21% for 2015, its worst year ever, according to the firm, which has accumulated board seats and power at companies such as Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. and Zoetis Inc. January hasn’t been any better for Pershing, which has been hurt by declines in holdings such as Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. The public fund has reported an 11% slide through Tuesday. Meanwhile, Mr. Icahn, who has effected change at companies including Hertz Global Holdings Inc., American International Group Inc. and, this past week, Xerox Corp., has suffered a 14% drop this year at his publicly traded investment vehicle, bringing its 12-month decline to 46%. Mr. Icahn, who doesn’t manage outside money or report the performance of his funds, owns roughly 90% of the vehicle, Icahn Enterprises LP. The firm holds his wholly owned companies and invests in his funds. It has been hurt by slumps in the energy stocks in his portfolio.
Female shark wins Seoul aquarium turf war, eats male shark (Newsweek)
It took the 8-year-old female 21 hours to eat the 5-year-old male inside a tank at the COEX Aquarium. According to video of the consumption, the female shark started with the male's head and slowly went about consuming the rest of his body. This act of shark cannibalism likely was the result of the sharks bumping into one another. "Sharks have their own territories," an aquarium official told Reuters. "Sometimes, when they bump into each other, they bite out of astonishment."
JPMorgan slashes outlook for stocks, citing Fed's 'diverging pressures' (CNBC)
Among Wall Street's largest banks, the firm now has the most bearish position on the S&P 500 Index. Having previously ended 2015 with an S&P price target of 2,200, JPMorgan recently cut that number to 2,000.
Goldman Employees Shift to Rubio as Bets on Bush Sour (Bloomberg)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. employees gave $107,000 to Marco Rubio’s presidential campaign in the final three months of the year, a 50 percent jump from the previous two quarters, as support for Jeb Bush faded.
Trader exposes sexist horrors of the Wall Street ‘frat house’ (NYP)
Among the anecdotes in Sherry’s book: Men openly debate hiring women based on their looks. One young woman sees her breasts drawn on top of her résumé. “The Dais of the D- -ks” is where the top male earners and producers sit; from there, they bark at the women through a microphone to come stand before them and suffer through “Game of Thrones”-style humiliations...Sherry herself says female traders often fall prey to an insidious reverse psychology: Are you tough enough to take it? How can you move billions of dollars around if you can’t take a little workplace hazing?
Europe's Biggest Exchange Warns `Brexit' May Spur London Exodus (WSJ)
“Should the United Kingdom vote to withdraw from the European Union, there may be an unfavorable business environment for companies with operations in the United Kingdom that do business in the European Union,” Bats, the parent company of European arm Bats Chi-X Europe, said in a Jan. 29 filing.
Couple marries seconds after meeting for the first time in airport, started dating a year ago on social media (NYDN)
The two lived across the country from each other, with Harris in California and Vann in New York. When they met at the Ontario International Airport for the first time on Friday, Vann got straight to the point. He proposed immediately to the woman he had only seen in photos and videos from their budding online romance...The two met in March last year after Vann posted a poem with the hashtag #7deadlysins, where Harris commented, “you had me at lust.” The two had used the same hashtags for the poetry and writing community on Instagram when the chance encounter happened. "You don't drag your feet with real love," Harris said. "You leap into that like there's no tomorrow, and that's what we're doing."