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Ready to learn more? Read Cult Wines' entire 2022 market outlook here. Fine wine can continue to post healthy performance and carry over a fantastic 2021 campaign into 2022. Economic growth and a deepening supply-demand imbalance point to ongoing price appreciation ... [Read More]
Admit it: The first time you heard about non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, you probably thought they were ridiculous ... [Read More]
We currently find ourselves in an unusual situation, as far as the economy and the financial markets. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal Government and Federal Reserve introduced massive fiscal and monetary stimulus programs ... [Read More]
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Christopher Giancarlo is a former chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and he spoke out against the Biden Admin’s crackdown on crypto. Biden’s Administration has made it clear that he wants tighter controls on stable coins, which peg to the existing government currencies, and crypto more broadly speaking of the systematic risk. Giancarlo says these regulations are short sited and they fail to see how crypto could improve economic growth and efficiency. He also said that a new regulation bureau should be created to manage crypto and that the government should create its own digital dollar. Giancarlo was a republican appointed by the Obama administration, and this criticism could be very important.
FINSUM: Don’t overlook the ability of stable coins to improve economic effectiveness in allowing for more efficient global financial flows.
Bridgewater is the world’s largest hedge fund and their current CEO stepped down in a recent memo. Former CEO David McCormick is planning on running for a US Senate seat. Stepping into the leadership role will be Nir Bar Dea and Mark Bertolini in a shared leadership role. Bridgewater has had three different CEOs since Ray Dalio stepped down in his capacity as chief executive. Bridgewater gained a cult-like following for its radical transparency in the financial world where individuals rate and score their co-workers. Bar Dea is a relatively young executive in the hedge fund industry, but the pairing is seen as complementary in their shared CEO role. Bridgewater manages over $150 billion in pensions.
FINSUM: Hedge funds made a huge splash in 2021 by avoiding a lot of public turmoil and investing privately, we’ll see if that trend and those returns continue in 2022.
Hedge funds opened the floodgates and entered a firesale on treasuries in response to Powells pivot on inflation. JPMorgan said the selling demonstrates leveraged investors pivoting out of Treasuries. Hedge funds are continually shorting across the futures market, and are now hitting an annual low in U.S. 10-year treasuries futures. The only problem is the tapering hasn’t begun just yet and rate hikes are only in theory. This means hedge funds drastically need the Fed to follow through on a hawkish swing if they don’t want to get hung out to dry.
FINSUM: It would be extremely unlikely the Fed pivots on its tapering. The only way that's possible is if inflation was significantly below target the next one or two quarters.