PARIS (Reuters) – French media conglomerate Vivendi (VIV.PA) and activist fund Amber Capital – the two biggest shareholders in French company Lagardere (LAGA.PA) – said they would go to court over Lagardere’s refusal to hold a special shareholders meeting. The... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s $6.2 billion foray into Japan’s five largest trading houses may signal billionaire Warren Buffett’s expectation that inflation and a falling U.S. dollar may make international equities more attractive when economie... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Brexit safeguards to stop asset managers in Britain running “shell” investment funds in the European Union to retain access to its markets should be hardwired into EU law, the bloc’s securities watchdog said on Wednesday. After Britain voted... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. equity, municipal and taxable bond funds posted inflows in the week ended on Wednesday, while money market fund saw outflows, according to Lipper. U.S. equity funds registered $5.6 billion in inflows in the week ended on Wednesday, according t... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – What happens to Social Security if we eliminate its funding? That is the question to ask after Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum here last weekend ordering the deferral through year-end of revenue collected under the Federal Ins... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Investor Fredric Zaino, who spent 15 years at hedge fund Millennium Management, has launched his own firm and plans to invest in micro-, small- and mid-cap public and private companies focusing on biotech, real estate and consumer products. ... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Charlie Rich, the late country music singer and songwriter, had it right when he crooned this famous line: “Oh, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.” We need to remind Congress of the truth of that line as it tries to push a plan ... More »
(Reuters) – U.S.-based equity funds in the week ended Wednesday posted $1.05 billion in outflows, according to Lipper. Taxable bond funds attracted $9.37 billion, the sixteenth straight weekly inflow, while U.S. money market funds shed $17.44 billion in the la... More »
(Reuters) – U.S.-based stock funds in the week ended Wednesday saw $3.3 billion of inflows, according to Lipper. Taxable bond funds attracted $11.1 billion, the fifteenth straight weekly inflow, while U.S. money market funds drew $20.4 billion in the latest we... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The idea of using investments to promote environmental and social causes has grown quickly in recent years, and retirement plans looked like the next frontier – until the Trump administration weighed in last month. The U.S. Department of La... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Global wealth managers are examining whether their clients in Hong Kong have ties to the city’s pro-democracy movement, in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the crosshairs of China’s new national security law, according to six people ... More »
BOSTON(Reuters) – Billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management is opening the $16.2 billion firm’s latest satellite location in Warsaw and moving some back office operations to lower-cost Poland. Point72, based in Stamford, Connecticut with ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors pumped money into riskier bonds and equity funds, BofA’s weekly fund flow statistics showed on Friday, as unprecedented stimulus measures helped offset worries about rising COVID-19 case numbers in the United States. The policy sup... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS) and Glass, Lewis & Co on Thursday recommended that Toshiba Corp shareholders elect all company directors, dealing a blow to two activist investors pushing to add five newcomers. ISS... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Leaf Group said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that one of its board members resigned and another was removed from the audit committee because he is ineligible to serve on it. The move comes just days after an investor group, which owns... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Activist investors demanded more change at European and Japanese companies in the first half of 2020 while giving U.S. companies a pass, for now, new data from investment bank Lazard show. While U.S. companies have long been activists’ favor... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Healthcare services company Mednax’s (MD.N) stock price closed up nearly 4% on Monday after its founder and chief executive and several board members were replaced, half a year after activist investor Starboard Value began pressing for chang... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Alibaba Group Holding Ltd co-founder Jack Ma has cut his stake in the company over the past year to 4.8% from 6.2%, cashing out around $8.2 billion at its current share price, the firm’s annual filing released on Friday showed. The divestm... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Starting a hedge fund with more capital and scoring top first-year returns point to higher chances of survival in the often risky business, Goldman Sachs Group Inc said in research released on Friday. Goldman, which has helped launch and fin... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Cannae Holdings and Senator Investment Group, which are trying to buy property data and analytics company CoreLogic Inc, have hired a proxy solicitor, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. A proxy solicitor polls large sharehol... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. equity funds in the week ended on Wednesday drew $609 million, the first inflow in four weeks, according to Lipper. U.S. taxable bond funds attracted $12.6 billion, the 13th straight weekly inflow, while money market funds saw $4.7 billion com... More »
(Reuters) – Property data and analytics company CoreLogic rejected an unsolicited $7 billion takeover offer from two investment firms on Tuesday, saying it expected to earn more this year and would buy back more of its stock. A consortium of Cannae Holdings In... More »
(Reuters) – The final days of the best quarter for the benchmark S&P 500 since 1998 were not enough to keep investors from pulling $4.6 billion out of U.S.-based stock funds in the week that ended Wednesday, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. The S... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – More hedge funds went out of business during the first three months of 2020 than at any other time since 2015 as the coronavirus led to heavy losses and investors pulled out billions in assets. Hedge Fund Research reported on Tuesday that 30... More »
(Reuters) – A stock rebound marked by Wall Street’s strongest quarter in more than two decades has slowed in recent weeks, as a resurgence in coronavirus cases threatens to derail the economy’s recovery from a deep downturn. With the S&P 500 up 18% in the quar... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s retail sales in May slumped 32.8% from a year earlier, falling for the 16th consecutive month as the virus pandemic slammed the brakes on tourism and spending in the city. Months of anti-government protest have also weighed on... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Tina Smets had long thought about getting a college degree, but that seemed impossible. As a mom of three kids, waitressing nights at a local restaurant in Kearney, Nebraska, the 31-year-old did not want to saddle her young family with ton... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – BlackRock’s Investment Institute said on Tuesday it was “warming up” to European assets following what it called the eurozone’s “impressive” efforts to tackle the coronavirus. The research arm of the world’s biggest fund manager said two fac... More »
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s culture minister has hailed a U.S. court ruling over a disputed ancient horse figurine as a major victory that may help Athens and others fighting to reclaim antiquities. Lina Mendoni said Tuesday’s ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Co... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Employer retirement plans are not known for their flashy investments – a majority of 401(k) investors these days use target date funds that invest in broad, diversified equity and fixed income mutual funds that automatically rebalance to mi... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The COVID-19 pandemic has put a bright spotlight on weaknesses in many of the systems designed to protect Americans from risks. But with older people more susceptible to serious illness and death from the virus, the problems in our Medicare... More »
(Reuters) – Hedge fund Starboard Value LP is close to having eight directors elected to the board of GCP Applied Technologies Inc (GCP.N) at the chemical company’s annual meeting, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. While not all votes have been... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Northern Trust Corp’s decision to liquidate a $1.8-billion prime money market fund was seen as an outlier event by industry analysts on Wednesday, but one that could portend more problems depending on how the economy fares. Money has rushed ... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan may lift its state of emergency in more regions this week as new coronavirus infections drop, the Asahi newspaper said on Tuesday, moving to resume sorely needed activity in the world’s third-largest economy, battered by containment mea... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors are bearish on stocks, especially riskier assets, and expect a slower economic recovery as the risk of a second wave of infections from the novel coronavirus persists, a BofA fund manager survey showed. World stocks have bounced ba... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – A spike in trading volumes boosted margins for wealth manager Julius Baer (BAER.S) in the first four months of the year, even though markets slid and a strong Swiss franc ate into assets under management. Baer attributed a 16% rise in gross ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Small businesses are among the hardest hit as the coronavirus pandemic continues to cause economic uncertainty in communities across the United States. As some state economies begin to reopen, we invited a group of small business experts t... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Sandwich maker Potbelly Corp on Monday promised to reimburse activist shareholders’ expenses with stock not cash, creating a situation that lawyers call an outlier for now but which they said could find traction in tough economic times. The ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Global hedge funds posted their biggest monthly gain in more than a decade in April when stocks rocketed higher with the help of government rescue packages designed to fuel growth stalled by the coronavirus outbreak, according to new data on... More »
(Reuters) – U.S.-based stock funds posted $10.8 billion in outflows in the week ended ON Wednesday, according to Lipper. U.S. taxable bond funds attracted $11.9 billion, the fourth straight weekly inflow, while money market funds draw $32.8 billion, the tenth ... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Luxury sports car maker Ferrari (RACE.MI) still expects to make more than $1 billion in core profit this year, providing a relative beacon of stability in an auto industry ravaged by the coronavirus crisis. The company, known for its red Form... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. jobless claims have exceeded 30 million since the coronavirus outbreak hit the country, wiping out a decade of job gains and sending many Americans scrambling to find work and cash in on government aid. As part of our weekly #AskReute... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Investors in SkyBridge Capital asked for hundreds of millions of dollars back after the fund suffered a 23% loss in March when investments made by its debt-focused hedge fund managers soured, Anthony Scaramucci wrote in a letter to clients, ... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Workers at Ferrari (RACE.MI) are signing up en masse for voluntary coronavirus screening so they can return to work as soon as possible in an ambitious scheme that could serve as a blueprint for manufacturers desperate to resume production. U... More »
(Reuters) – Investors sent record inflows to high-yield corporate bonds and broke a six-week losing streak for investment-grade debt in the week that ended Wednesday as market volatility from the coronavirus crisis began to subside, according to Lipper data re... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – In what now seems like a galaxy far, far away, Republican lawmakers routinely talked up the idea of raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. In fact, we were in that galaxy just three years ago. A higher Medicare age was an awful... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – After closing their doors to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, many small businesses face an uncertain future following government-ordered lockdowns. As part of our weekly #AskReuters Twitter chat series, Reuters gathered a group of s... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Sara Pauly is not one of those small business owners scrambling to fill out paperwork for part of the more than $350 billion in government aid available through the Paycheck Protection Program or the Economic Injury Disaster Loan. Instead,... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – When Rachel Baron wanted to give back to her community affected by COVID-19, her first thought was to help local emergency room doctors. So the 46-year-old advertising copywriter worked with some friends to set up food deliveries from loca... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Glenview Capital Management, the hedge fund run by Larry Robbins, has lost roughly 30% in the first three months of 2020 as the spread of the new coronavirus hurt the healthcare facilities and hospital operators the firm has invested in. The... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Multi-strategy hedge funds – those that bet on a broad array of markets using teams of traders, leverage and centralized risk management – have flourished as stocks ended their worst three months since the 2008 financial crisis. Balyasny Ass... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. pension funds that delayed rebalancing their portfolios are likely to pump about $400 billion into stocks over the next two quarters, analysts at JP Morgan said, providing a potential boost to equity markets battered by the coronaviru... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – UBS Group (UBSG.S) intends to pay its 2019 dividend, the Swiss bank said on Monday, despite guidance from markets supervisor FINMA, the Swiss government and international banking groups to limit payouts as the coronavirus outbreak hits the g... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – After years of waiting and watching from afar, hedge fund Fir Tree Partners is spending $410 million from its dislocation funds on stocks, pockets of the credit market and other securities, sure the historic market sell-off made new bargains... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire investor William Ackman said a CNBC television interview he gave last week was not designed to profit from any trades, dismissing some media speculation he had purposely pushed markets lower to make money off his hedges. “Our hed... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The $2 trillion economic stimulus package racing toward passage in the U.S. Congress contains several important relief provisions for retirees, and for younger workers saving for retirement. Most of these provisions do a good job targeting ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Talks between First United Corp and Driver Management to settle a fight for board seats at the bank holding company broke down when the activist investor rejected the offer, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. “Your ‘best ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Lindblad Expeditions on Thursday said it named two independent directors backed by activist investment firm ValueAct Capital, which owns a nearly 10% stake in the adventure cruise company, to its board. New York-based Lindblad appointed Thom... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lily Reiche has lost nearly half of her dogwalking clients in Los Angeles because of California’s coronavirus stay-at-home order. Of the 40 or so accounts at My Dog Spot, which dried up because people are either working from home or have l... More »
BOSTON/LONDON (Reuters) – The havoc wrought by the coronavirus crisis could give investors leverage to put new limits on CEO pay packages and link them more closely to a range of social and environmental issues at companies’ annual meetings this spring. Execut... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – A New Jersey municipal money-market fund run by BNY Mellon Corp needed an injection of $89,000 after the market value of the fund came under pressure, the bank disclosed on Tuesday in a U.S. regulatory filing. BNY Mellon said it provided cap... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – U.S. prime money-market funds have lost more than 10% of their assets and the prospect of funds slowing customer redemptions is rising amid unprecedented market turmoil, top credit-rating agency Moody’s Corp said on Thursday. “The risk of fu... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire investor William Ackman, who has long worried about risks posed by the coronavirus, called on the Trump administration on Wednesday to seal off the country for 30 days and said stocks would “soar” if such restrictions were impose... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – The breathtaking coronavirus-induced plunge of the stock market has unnerved retirement investors of all ages, but it poses special risks for people close to, or already retired. Unlike younger workers with many years ahead of earning and s... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lives are on hold all over the world as we distance ourselves socially to contain the coronavirus, but bills still pile up. Some countries, like Italy and France, already enacted mortgage and rent relief, but U.S. measures are still being ... More »
NEW YORK/BOSTON/LONDON (Reuters) – Bridgewater Associates LP, the Ray Dalio-led hedge fund giant famous for making money during the 2008 financial crisis, has posted mixed returns amid the coronavirus-led market turmoil, according to an investor with direct kn... More »
(Reuters) – William Ackman’s publicly traded hedge fund gained nearly 3% this year, though the billionaire investor warned of volatility ahead as world markets reel under the economic hit from the coronavirus epidemic. Pershing Square Holdings Ltd on Monday sa... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Investors pulled out of most asset classes, with stocks and bond funds seeing a combined $36 billion of outflows in the week to Wednesday, BofA said, amid fears of economic damage from the coronavirus epidemic. Stock markets have been sellin... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – From leather bodices to sheer frilly dresses, Italian label Valentino showcased a series of all-black looks in Paris on Sunday as fashion houses pressed on with their shows in spite of the coronavirus outbreak that has kept some attendees awa... More »
(Reuters) – Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp has amassed a stake in Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and is pushing for changes, including removal of the social media company’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Twitter is ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Activist investor Clifton S. Robbins told clients on Friday that he is shuttering his Blue Harbour Group not because investors want their money back or because returns have lagged, but because he wants to do something different. “Our inves... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – This week’s stock market plunge on coronavirus worries has given hedge fund managers a rare opportunity to brag that they are performing better than traditional stock market funds during a time of market stress. Analyst reports on Friday s... More »
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) on Saturday posted a 23% decrease in quarterly operating profit, while soaring prices in stock holdings such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O) enabled the conglomerate to smash its old record for full-year earni... More »
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett on Saturday called on corporate America to make their boards of directors more accountable to shareholders and less beholden to chief executive officers, perhaps by reducing their pay and requiring that they buy more stock. In his an... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Raf Simons will join Prada as co-creative director, marking the first time the Italian fashion house has hired an outsider to work with renowned head designer Miuccia Prada. Belgian-born Simons, 52, will join Prada on April 2, the group said ... More »
(Reuters) – Royal Bank of Canada plans to open a consumer bank in the United States early next year targeting wealthy clients, with the aim of expanding deposits, its chief financial officer told Reuters on Friday after the bank posted first-quarter profit tha... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Hedge fund Senator Investment Group told clients on Thursday that its founding partners are splitting up, ending one of the industry’s more profitable and durable professional marriages. Alexander Klabin will be leaving the $6.9 billion Sena... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. equity funds saw outflows of $2.6 billion in the latest week, according to Lipper. U.S.-based taxable bond funds attracted $7.9 billion in the week ended on Wednesday, the seventh straight weekly inflow, and money market funds gained $6.3 bill... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Victoria Beckham chose black dresses paired with distinctive belts and chunky thigh-high platform boots for a collection she characterized as a “gentle rebellion” at London Fashion Week on Sunday. The former Spice Girl pop star turned design... More »
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Former U.S. senator Alan Simpson summarized the argument well: seniors fighting Social Security benefit cuts were nothing more than “greedy geezers” stealing from young people “who are going to get gutted.” The Wyoming Republican’s memorabl... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – T. Rowe Price Group Inc said on Thursday it would ratchet up the risk in its target-date retirement portfolios, boosting stock allocations to as much as 98% for younger investors. Target-date funds are popular in 401(k) plans because they do... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – When former investment manager Ron Cordes started a charitable foundation in 2007, he got frustrated because he could only “do good” when he was actively giving the money away to needy causes. Then Cordes discovered impact investing. “We b... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. securities regulator is on a collision course with powerful hedge funds executives, including former White House advisor Carl Icahn and Republican mega-donor Paul Singer, over a proposal they say could reduce shareholder voting ri... More »
NEW YORK(Reuters) – Allen Lomax knows how retirement is supposed to go: By your golden years, you should have paid off your house, built up a big pot of savings, and be able to face the years ahead without fear. The future is not quite shaping up like that for... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – New York state’s top pension fund official said it was reviewing whether to divest from 27 coal companies and could make decisions on $98 million in holdings within two months. The reviews by the third-largest U.S. state pension system, with... More »
FRANKFURT/ZURICH (Reuters) – The Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) spying debacle risks tipping the bank into a crisis that could engulf its top executives. Switzerland’s market supervisor is scrutinizing Credit Suisse’s oversight of chief executive Tidjane Thiam and his... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The future of employee training involves no embarrassing role-playing in front of new colleagues or boring web modules which take an hour each to click through. For the next wave in workplace learning, get ready to strap on a pair of virtu... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Hedge funds that push for change at corporations stepped up their demands for asset spin-offs and sales last year, making them part of nearly half of all activist investor campaigns waged in 2019, according to data released on Wednesday. “... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Investor Jeffrey Ubben, already betting there is money to be made from coaxing corporations into being better citizens, gained an ally on Tuesday when BlackRock Inc chief Laurence Fink told companies to tackle climate change or face his wr... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Emotions — and expenses — often run high during a divorce, but people and their bank accounts can bounce back given enough time. A new study from Fidelity Investments, released Tuesday, shows that by five years after a divorce, most people... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) and law firm Homburger will continue their investigation into employee observation at the bank, a spokesman said, after the bank on Monday confirmed a second former executive was tailed. [nL8N28X0TX] “We are looking in... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) on Monday cleared CEO Tidjane Thiam and other top executives from knowledge of a second spying incident, saying former Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Olivier Bouee had the Swiss bank’s then-head of human resources foll... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Marcato Capital Management, backed by Blackstone Group and billionaire William Ackman, is shutting down as assets have shriveled after two years of poor returns, sources said on Sunday. Richard McGuire, the firm’s founder... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – D.E. Shaw’s Orienteer platform, the backbone of the $50 billion investment firm’s multi-asset class offerings, posted high double-digit returns this year, the best ever in its six year lifetime. The Orienteer platform’s HV variant gained 41.... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday proposed changes to its decades-old definition of a professional investor in order to allow more Americans to buy shares in private companies. The agency hopes the changes will boo... More »
(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.) By Mark Miller CHICAGO (Reuters) – News flash: Members of Congress managed to walk and chew gum at the same time this week. In the midst of the impeachment furor, U.S. lawmakers ad... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. fund investors started closing the books on 2019 by withdrawing more than $10.9 billion from mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that hold domestic stocks last week, the largest pullback since early October, according to Investment... More »
(Reuters) – U.S. Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg released the names of his major fundraisers on Friday, bowing to growing pressure from rival Elizabeth Warren and U.S. journalists to be more transparent in his campaign. The list of 113 people ... More »
(Reuters) – Italy’s Fashion Chamber (CNMI) announced on Thursday a collaboration with the British Fashion Council which will bring part of London’s Fashion week to Milan’s men’s fall-winter collections in January. On the day that UK citizens vote in an electio... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Billionaire investor William Ackman’s hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management said Monday it bought shares in testing equipment company Agilent Technologies Inc, only its second new investment this year as the fund has reported a 51% r... More »
