It seems yet another one of hedge fund billionaire Steven A. Cohen’s bets didn’t pay off. MarketWatch reported the founder of SAC Capital and Point72 Asset Management shipped his family's pet pig to an animal rescue facility in Florida after the animal grew too big. Sources say the spoiled swine, named Romeo, lived in Cohen’s immense Connecticut mansion and even had his own room. Raised from a piglet, Romeo recently tipped the scales at 150 pounds and the vet recommended he would be better off around other animals.
Rate Hike Could Trigger a Downturn
Fifty three percent of advisors expect the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year, with half of those believing the hike will lead to a market downturn, according to a recent SEI survey of 125 FAs. The survey, conducted at SEI’s National Strategic Advisor Conference, found that the 78 percent of advisors who don't expect a downturn only see the Dow Jones Industrial Average returning anywhere from 0 to 10 percent this year. Clients are also anxious. About four in 10 advisors say the biggest change they’ve seen this year is that their clients are more pessimistic about the markets.
The Bond Market is Where the Volatility Is
While the stock market has been on what may be a legendary bull run, it's the bond market that's causing the most concern for investors. Art Cashin, UBS' director of floor operations at the NYSE, told CNBC that if yields keep moving up and shares start being redeemed, that may cause more bonds to be liquidated and push yields even higher. "While the Fed is talking about being measured and data dependent, they're potentially playing with fire here because they could start a spontaneous combustion that they can't control," Cashin told Squawk Alley.
After General Electric sold its private equity financing business on Tuesday for $12 billion, it’s closer to becoming the first company to remove its designation as a “systemically important financial institution,” popularly known as “too big to fail.” Other non-bank firms are hoping to follow suit, namely MetLife and Prudential Financial, to avoid the increased regulation that the SIFI designation brings along. They face tougher odds than GE, according to an expert on banking and regulation, who said that unless MetLife and Prudential agree to only invest in publicly traded, high-rated instruments or break the company into small pieces, they will remain will remain “too big to fail.”
