April 26, 2024
Funds

ARK Funds Continue to Struggle. Investors Are Leaving Rapidly.

After a brief bounceback in 2023, Cathie Wood’s exchange-traded funds continued to suffer this year. Investors are losing their patience.   So far this year, investors have pulled $2.2 billion out of the six actively managed ARK ETFs, more than the asset outflows the funds have seen for the entire 2022 and 2023 combined. That’s left

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Investors

Investors Focus on Costs of New Labor Contract as GM Reports Earnings

General Motors’ first-quarter earnings are coming Tuesday morning. Investors will want to see progress offsetting higher wages following the 2023 labor negotiations with the United Auto Workers Union. For the first quarter, Wall Street is looking for earnings per share of $2.12 and an operating profit of $3.1 billion from sales of $42.1 billion. A

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Mortgage

Higher Mortgage Rates Could Weigh on Home Prices. This State Looks Most Vulnerable

Mortgage rates topped 7% this past week for the first time in 2024, according to Freddie Mac . The increase comes at a pivotal time for the U.S. housing market, which saw existing-home sales hit a near-30-year low in 2023 as costs rose. Higher rates could reduce buyer demand, slow price growth, further crimp sales,

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Funds

Large Fund Bets Big on Groceries Through Walmart, Kroger Stock

One of the first sovereign-wealth funds, and the largest at the state level in the U.S., just made a big bet on groceries as inflation continues to pressure American consumers. Alaska Permanent Fund tripled its investments in shares of Walmart and Kroger —the respective No. 1 and No. 2 players in terms of their share

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Funds

This Fund Owns SpaceX and Other Unicorns. It Soared From $9 to $100 in 2 Weeks.

The initial public offering market is showing signs of life again. And the optimism following the strong debuts for Reddit and AI cloud infrastructure company Astera Labs appears to be spreading. Case in point: A closed-end fund that invests in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Fortnite maker Epic Games, OpenAI, fintech giants Stripe and Chime and other

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Finance

Skadden hires Linklaters London finance partner

The US legal giant has recruited financial regulation partner Sebastian Barling from the Magic Circle law firm, according to people familiar with the situation. Barling spent nearly 13 years at Linklaters and was promoted to partner in 2018. He previously spent four years at Reed Smith. Linklaters has been hit by a string of partner exits

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Investment

While rivals keep cutting, HSBC’s top investment banker eyes growth

Greg Guyett oversees a broad range of businesses as the chief executive of HSBC’s global banking and markets unit, a role he took on in October 2022, just before rivals started making deep job cuts. But he’s looking to grow most of these businesses including investment banking, securities services and transaction banking, he told Financial News in a wide-ranging interview.

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Finance

Kirkland & Ellis hires second Allen & Overy finance partner in London

Kirkland & Ellis has hired a finance partner in London from Allen & Overy. Vanessa Xu is a sponsor-facing leveraged finance partner who has been with the Magic Circle law firm for more than 17 years, making partner in 2017. Xu is joining Kirkland in London, the US law firm said in a statement. “Vanessa

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Loans

Blackstone and Starwood Are Both Mortgage REITs. Their Reserves Tell Different Stories.

The specialized lenders known as mortgage real estate investment trusts have a prominent spot on the injured list of players in commercial real estate. Since rising rates started to weigh on real estate borrowers in early 2022, shares of two mortgage REITs— Starwood Property Trust and Blackstone Mortgage Trust —have fallen 15% and 35%, respectively.

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