Delta aims for higher fares as fuel prices rebound
Delta says rising fuel costs is causing it to pull back on expansion plans later this year and that could lead to higher fares. …read more
Source: Delta aims for higher fares as fuel prices rebound
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
The FBI Tried To Suppress 80,000 Documents On Saudi Ties To 9/11
By Tyler Durden
Submitted by Carey Wedler via TheAntiMedia.org,
The classified 28-pages of the 9/11 report have made global headlines lately as a handful of lawmakers battle to release them to the public. Those pages are believed by activists and members of Congress — who have seen them — to expose the role of Saudi Arabia, including government officials, in the terrorist attacks.
But according to a new report based on years of investigative journalism, it turns out there are far more than 28 classified pages on Saudi Arabia and 9/11 — there are 80,000 kept secret by the FBI. And though not all 80,000 are expected to concern the Saudi family — and the FBI insists their investigation of the documents came up empty-handed — journalists, at least one lawmaker, and heavily-redacted documents suggest otherwise.
As the Daily Beast reported, the discovery of the 80,000 pages came when Irish investigative journalists Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan were contacted by an unnamed counterterrorism official in 2011. The reporters were preparing to publish a book on the 10th anniversary of the terror attacks and were told by the source that a Saudi family who had been living in Sarasota, Florida, prior to the attacks had connections to the attackers. Specifically, they were linked to Mohamed Atta, the Egyptian terrorist widely recognized as the ringleader of the attacks.
The unnamed official’s tip conflicted squarely with the FBI’s prior conclusions on that family. Abdulazzi al-Hiijjii, his wife Anoud, and their three small children lived in an upscale Sarasota community, along with Anoud’s father, Esam Ghazzawi, a financier and interior designer, who owned the home, and Ghazzawai’s American-born wife. The FBI had received multiple calls from the family’s neighbors expressing concerns over erratic behavior. Two weeks before 9/11, they left the house in a huge hurry, leaving dirty diapers and toys strewn about, a fully stocked refrigerator, and three cars in the driveway.
Though the FBI opened an investigation in April 2002, it still insists it never found any significant connection between the family and Atta. The agency acknowledged they had suspected a connection, but “not until after the Tampa field office opened an investigation that claimed to find ‘numerous connections’ between the family and the 9/11 hijackers,” the Daily Beast explained. The 80,000 classified pages in question stemmed from that investigation.
The FBI says “the bureau’s own agents did initially suspect the family was linked to some of the hijackers.” But “on further scrutiny, those connections proved unfounded, officials now say.”
But Summers and Swan contacted Dan Christensen, a veteran Florida reporter, and together they published an exposé on these connections in Sarasota in September 2011. As they reported, following the 9/11 attacks:
“[L]aw enforcement agents not only discovered the home was visited by vehicles used by the hijackers, but phone calls were linked between the home and those who carried out the death flights — including leader Mohamed Atta — in discoveries never before revealed to the public.”
They were also never …read more
Source: The FBI Tried To Suppress 80,000 Documents On Saudi Ties To 9/11
What The Biggest Hedge Funds Did In Q1: The Full 13-F Summary
By Tyler Durden
While far less attention is being paid to hedge fund 13F filings, which show a stale representation of equity long stakes among the hedge fund community as of 45 days prior, than in years gone by as a result of increasingly poor performance by the 2 and 20 crowd, they still remain closely watched source of investment ideas but mostly to find out what the new cluster ideas and hedge fund hotel stocks are at any given moment so they can be faded.
Courtesy of a Bloombert compilation, here are some highlights from the latest round of 13F filings.
Valeant.
What used to be one of the industry’s most popular holdings has fallen out of favor with just about every major hedge fund holder save Pershing Square Capital Management’s William Ackman. Brahman Capital, which had invested in Valeant for at least 2010, exited the 8.12 million shares it held at the end of 2015 during the first quarter. The New York firm was joined by a who’s who of hedge fund giants: Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global Investors, Stephen Mandel’s Lone Pine Capital, Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management and Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners all sold off the former high-flier, which has plunged about 90 percent from its peak last August.
Allergan
The merger-arb blow up of the year has claimed its set of scalps, however the company’s failed acquisition by Pfizer took place after the end of Q1, which is why all those who loaded up in the first quarter are now nursing big losses on their failed M&A bets. Among them are Lone Pine and Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group who bought into Allergan Plc during the first quarter, establishing stakes shortly before Pfizer Inc. decided in April to terminate a $160 billion deal to combine with the Dublin-domiciled company as the U.S. cracks down on corporate inversions. Pentwater Capital Management, Arrowgrass Capital Partners and Eton Park Capital Management also took new stakes or increased their Allergan holdings. The stock has fallen 28 percent this year.
Cutting back equity exposure
As noted earlier, the value of Soros Fund Management’s publicly disclosed holdings dropped by 25% to $4.5 billion as of the end of the first quarter. He was not alone in rapidly derisking his portfolio. At Glenview Capital Management, the hedge fund run by Larry Robbins, investments in U.S.-listed stocks declined by 22 percent. At Louis Bacon’s Moore Capital Management, the value of the holdings fell by about 29 percent.
Gold
Gold is gaining popularity among prominent investors. Soros established a $264 million position in Barrick Gold Corp., acquiring a 1.7 percent stake in the world’s biggest bullion producer that was the fund’s biggest equity position. Soros also disclosed owning bullish options on 1.05 million shares in the SPDR Gold Trust, an exchange-traded fund tracking the price of bullion. Other major investors also sought safety in the yellow metal. Eton Park purchased 3.6 million shares in the same gold ETF, a $422 million position. Bessemer Group bought 546,000 shares valued at $64.3 million.
As has become the norm, John Paulson …read more
Source: What The Biggest Hedge Funds Did In Q1: The Full 13-F Summary
Soros Makes Gold His Largest Holding As He Cuts Equity Exposure To Lowest Since 2013, Doubles S&P Puts
By Tyler Durden
One of the more closely watched 13F reports yesterday in addition to that of Warren Buffett was that of Soros Fund Management, the family office of George Soros, which revealed that while the 85 year old billionaire was not quite as bearish as his former chief strategist Stanley Druckenmiller, or Carl Icahn for that matter, had turned decidedly sour on overall equity exposure.
As shown in his 13F, Soros slashed his overall long equity holdings by over 25% to just $4.5 billion as of March 31, which was the lowest such position since 2013.
As previously discussed, Soros has warned of risks stemming from China’s economy, arguing its debt-fueled economy resembles the U.S. in 2007-08, before credit markets seized up and spurred a global recession. In January, the former hedge fund manager said a hard landing in China was “practically unavoidable,” adding that such a slump would worsen global deflationary pressures, drag down stocks and boost U.S. government bonds.
Perhaps that is also why in addition to slashing his bullish bets, Soros also more than doubled his SPY puts to 2.1 million shares, or a value of $431MM, up from $205MM the previous quarter.
But more notably was Soros’ significant return to gold, after he acquired 1.7% of Barrick, making it the firm’s biggest U.S.-listed holding. Soros also disclosed owning call options on 1.05 million shares in the SPDR Gold Trust, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the price of gold. It was unclear if Soros has been influenced by Druckenmiller who earlier this month at the Sohn Conference, called gold his largest currency allocation as central bankers experiment with the “absurd notion of negative interest rates.”
America’s Age Of Impunity
By Tyler Durden
Authored by Jeffrey Sachs, originally posted at The Boston Globe,
The Panama Papers opened yet another window on the global system of financial corruption, showing how political leaders and businesses use shell companies in secrecy havens like the British Virgin Islands and many US states to evade taxes and hide corruption and other crimes. Yet the system of corruption depends on another factor beyond secrecy, one that is perhaps even more important: impunity. Impunity means that the rich and powerful escape from punishment even when their malfeasance is in full view.
Impunity is epidemic in America. The rich and powerful get away with their heists in broad daylight. When a politician like Bernie Sanders calls out the corruption, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal double down with their mockery over such a foolish “dreamer.” The Journal recently opposed the corruption sentence of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell for taking large gifts and bestowing official favors — because everybody does it. And one of its columnists praised Panama for facilitating the ability of wealthy individuals to hide their income from “predatory governments” trying to collect taxes. No kidding.
Our major institutions, the ones that should know better, are often gross enablers of impunity. Consider my alma mater, Harvard University, and its recent nuptial with hedge-fund manager John Paulson. Paulson was the coconspirator with Goldman Sachs of one of the most notorious scams of the recent financial bubble.
Paulson and Goldman constructed and marketed a portfolio of toxic assets to sell to unwitting investors so that Paulson could bet against the portfolio. Goldman and Paulson thereby turned the sucker investors’ quick $1 billion loss into an equivalent $1 billion gain for Paulson, with Goldman collecting on fees. The SEC fined Goldman but left Paulson untouched. As one disillusioned SEC investigator put it: The SEC is “an agency that polices the broken windows on the street level and rarely goes to the penthouse floors.” Yet Harvard was delighted last year to take $400 million of Paulson’s ill-gotten gains, leave Paulson with the rest, name its engineering school after Paulson, and declare Paulson to be “the epitome of a visionary leader.”
Impunity. Paulson remains a much-celebrated figure on Wall Street. He has many kindred spirits, such as his partner in crime, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who has described himself as just a banker “doing God’s work.” Or consider JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, whose bank has paid well over $30 billion in fines while Dimon remains CEO with a $27 million salary for 2015. The hedge-fund industry itself is a case study of impunity. With few exceptions, it is domiciled in tax and secrecy havens, enjoys crass tax breaks brokered by cronies in Congress (such as Wall Street Senator Chuck Schumer), and pays itself billion-dollar-plus paychecks even while leaving investors with below-market returns or outright losses over the years.
The recourse to cheating within the financial industry now seems to be deeply ingrained, part of the corporate culture, and enabled by the prevailing impunity. An ingenious scientific …read more
Source: America’s Age Of Impunity
Tim Cook to visit India for the 1st time as Apple CEO
After a closely watched trip to China, Apple CEO Tim Cook will visit another giant Asian nation: India. …read more
Source: Tim Cook to visit India for the 1st time as Apple CEO
Washington "Promotes Regional Stability" With War Games In Russia’s Back Yard
By Tyler Durden
Around 350 troops from six countries (US, UK, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, and Serbia) are taking part in a military drill entitled ‘Platinum Eagle 16.1’, which is scheduled to conclude today according to RT.
The exercise comes less than a week after the US launched its European missile defense system in Romania, much to the ire of Russia.
“The 1st Battalion Marines is spread out over Eastern Europe, and the fact that we are able to come here, in Romania, and train with five other nations, that really promotes regional stability. Training together in peace time, those who train together will fight well together,” Lieutenant-Colonel Justin Ansel of the US Marine Corps told RT’s Ruptly video agency
Ah yes, nothing says regional stability like holding military exercises in Russia’s back yard just days after pushing Russia back to a cold war type of mentality.
“We’re not going to be dragged into this race. We’ll go our own way. We’ll work very accurately without exceeding the plans to finance the re-equipment of our Army and Navy, which have already been laid out for the next several years,” Putin said on Friday
“Recent developments indicate that the situation isn’t getting better. Unfortunately, it’s deteriorating. I’m talking about the launch of the radar station in Romania as one of the elements of the up-and-coming US anti-missile defense program,” the Russian president added.
* * *
It appears as though the US isn’t the slightest bit concerned about pushing Russia even further than it already has. As we said earlier, given how the market processes newsflow lately, perhaps Russia being forced to move more ICBMs to its border, increasing the likelihood of a catalyst for actual war, will be viewed as bullish for stocks.
Source: Washington "Promotes Regional Stability" With War Games In Russia’s Back Yard
BofA Research Analyst Paul Ciana Stopped Out on Oil Short Call (Video)
By EconMatters
By EconMatters
Technical Analysis is a tool that requires a lot of Art in its application compiled with the mathematical science underlying the craft.
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Source: BofA Research Analyst Paul Ciana Stopped Out on Oil Short Call (Video)
Google self-driving car vets take on automated trucks
Otto is a new startup from Google’s self-driving car engineers that aims to turn long-haul trucks into automated rides that only stop for fuel. …read more
Source: Google self-driving car vets take on automated trucks
How tech literate are 8th graders?
The U.S. tested eighth graders on tech and engineering literacy. The results? Girls outperform boys. …read more
Source: How tech literate are 8th graders?
