Hedge funds have renewed their attack on the Japanese yen just days after suspected government intervention to support the currency, with leverage funds upping their bets that the it will sink back towards a 34-year low in the next few weeks, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report cites option traders in highlighting that short-term funds have started buying one- to three-month so-called reverse knock-out call-option (RKO) contracts this week, which gain in value if the dollar-yen rises. Where they differ from regular call options is that they becoming worthless if a specific level is ..read more

A short bet on Spanish multinational pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturer Grifols helped hedge fund General Industrial Partners earn double-digit gains while bullish bet on the same stock left former Elliott trader Frank Tuil nursing a loss, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report cites an investor document seen by Bloomberg in revealing that GIP’s fund gained 31.5% up to the end of April this year. The strategy notched a 28% gain in January alone on the back of bearish wagers against Grifols following publication of a report questioning the blood plasma company’s financial reportin ..read more

Yun Zhou, a former macro portfolio manager at global macro hedge fund major Brevan Howard, has moved to the banking sector in joining Citi as a Managing Director based in New York, where he will focus on rates options trading, according to a report by eFinancial Careers. Zhou spent less than two years at Brevan Howard, having joined in October 2022 following a 14-year stint at Morgan Stanley and then leaving last month, possibly as part of the firm’s recent round of job cuts mostly affecting the macro systematic team and the hedge fund’s support staff. According to his LinkedIn profile, Zhou j ..read more

Activist hedge fund firm AREX Capital Management will mount a boardroom challenge at US home health and hospice services provider Enhabit, arguing that that new directors are needed to help reverse poor financial performance, according to a report by Reuters. The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter in revealing that Arex, which wants Enhabit to put itself up for sales, privately nominated seven director candidates, all of whom have healthcare and capital markets experience, in March, during the company’s nominating window. The nominees reportedly include AREX partner James Co ..read more

Point72 has added anotther Portfolio Manager to its team with the appointment of Ketan Gada from Swiss asset manager Pictet Asset Management, where he served as Head of Total Return Emerging Markets Fixed Income, according to a report by CityWire. Gada spent almost eight years at Pictet managing an absolute return macro emerging markets long-short strategy, before leaving in February of this year and joining Point72 last month. According to his LinkedIn profile, prior to Pictet, Gadad served as a Partner and Senior Emerging Markets Portfolio Manager at Quadra Capital Partners, where he built a ..read more

Bankrupt retailer Bed Bath & Beyond is suing Hudson Bay Capital Management – the hedge fund at the centre of a filed last-ditch rescue plan for the business – for more than $300m in lost trading profits as it looks to generate cash for its creditors, according to a report by Fortune. In a lawsuit filed last week under the so-called short-swing profit rule, which governs transactions by executives in their company’s stock, Bed Bath claims that Hudson Bay orchestrated the terms of a February 2023 offering so it could acquire a large, cut-rate stake in the business without having to disclose ..read more

EEX Group saw a total of 1,139 TWh traded on its global spot and derivatives power markets in April – an increase of 72% YoY, marking a new record monthly high, with trading volume in European power derivatives more than doubling YoY (+141%). Volumes on the European power spot markets increased by 23% YoY, recording strong growth rates on the EPEX Day-Ahead markets (+24%) and the intraday markets (+21%) with EPEX SPOT also recording an all-time record in intraday markets. Trading activities in Japanese power futures meanwhile remain strong, with a volume of 4.7 TWh was traded over the month re ..read more

LTX, a subsidiary of Broadridge Financial Solutions, has integrated with MultiLynq, a provider of electronic fixed income trading connectivity and integration solutions, in a move to improve connectivity to the AI-powered corporate bond trading platform. Currently, there are around 35 dealers and 90 asset managers on the LTX platform. According to a press statement, through MultiLynq, dealers can “more easily integrate LTX into their existing infrastructure, avoiding the need to deploy their own resources by leveraging MultiLynq’s API and team”, with the integration offering “an alternative to ..read more

Geopolitical and economic factors may be behind a potentially significant shift in hedge fund investment and business strategy, including increased fundraising activity and diversification, according to a survey by Dynamo Software, a Bulgarian cloud software provider for the alternative investment management sector. Dynamo’s survey reveals that a much higher number of hedge funds – as compared to the overall GP marketplace – expect to see bigger fundraising efforts, with more than half (55%) of those surveyed saying they expect to increase fundraising activities moving into 2025. Just 30% of t ..read more

Consumer discretionary – non-essential goods and services – was the most shorted stock sector in Europe as of 1 May, according to new analysis from exchange traded product issuer GraniteShares, accounting for almost a quarter (24%) of the top 100 shorted stocks. Scandic Hotels Group, a hotel chain operating in the Nordic countries, was the most shorted consumer discretionary stock, with short interest in the company up to 14.4% from 3.1% a year ago. Industrials held the second greatest short exposure in Europe, with 18 net short positions, with Irish paper-based packaging company, Smurfit Kapp ..read more