What we’re reading (3/24)
“Fidelity Launches Business Mimicking Hedge-Fund Strategies” (Bloomberg). “Fidelity Investments is jumping into liquid alternatives, products that offer regular investors access to hedge-fund like strategies and are raking in billions of dollars amid rising interest rates and increased market volatility. The money-manager has started a new unit, Fidelity Diversifying Solutions, which is hiring staff and rolling out offerings, according to a statement from the entity’s president, Vadim Zlotnikov. The segment also filed to register two funds at the end of last year, Fidelity Global Macro Opportunities and Fidelity Risk Parity.”
“A Top Prosecutor, A Short Seller’s Confession, And A Columbia Professor Offer Clues To The DOJ Probe Of Short Sellers” (Institutional Investor). “Last June, a relatively obscure short seller shook the financial world by settling a defamation lawsuit regarding his 2018 short of Farmland Partners, a real estate investment trust. Such settlements are rare, but in this case, Quinton Mathews, a Dallas-based researcher writing under the pseudonym Rota Fortunae, admitted making false statements about Farmland in a Seeking Alpha blogpost and profiting from short-dated put options ahead of its publication.”
“Morgan Stanley Replaces Executive Tied To Block-Trade Probe” (Bloomberg). “Morgan Stanley tapped Arnaud Blanchard to replace Pawan Passi, the executive put on leave amid a sweeping U.S. probe into how Wall Street handles big stock trades…Passi was placed on leave in November as U.S. authorities examined his involvement in block trades as part of an investigation into whether banks improperly alerted certain clients to market-moving transactions, Bloomberg News reported.”
“Why Energy Insecurity Is Here To Stay” (The Economist). “The longer-term question being asked by many is: how fast can they abandon fossil fuels altogether? The energy strategy announced this month by the eu envisages independence from Russia by 2030—in part by finding new sources of gas, but also by doubling down on renewables. As the folly of relying on Russia becomes clear, nuclear power is back in fashion.”
“War In Ukraine Forces European Bulls To Unwind Bets” (Wall Street Journal). “European stock indexes have clawed back most of the losses suffered since President Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops into Ukraine. That doesn’t necessarily mean traders are feeling optimistic. Investors around the world say they are still looking skeptically at investing within the European continent, even though the pan-continental Stoxx Europe 600 is down just 0.2% from where it closed the day before the invasion.”
