News
Each day, DailyAlts tracks major developments across the alternative investment world. Our content is procured from primary contacts in the industry and secondary sources across the web. Our goal is to give readers the most up-to-date news and engaging experience to open new doors and areas of knowledge. Our stories cover nine separate verticals of the alternative investment industry.
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Chipmaker AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) has unveiled a range of innovative AI solutions spanning from data centers to personal computers. The AMD Instinct MI300 Series features data center AI accelerators, while the ROCm 6 open software stack introduces new features supporting Large Language Models (LLMs). Additionally, the Ryzen 8040 Series processors come equipped with Ryzen AI capabilities.
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Hedge Funds: Ray Dalio Shares Concerns About the Coronavirus, Compares Economy to 1930s Conditions
Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio wrote this week that he is very concerned about the state of the economy. The combination of coronavirus and zero interest rates “really worries” him, according to a note released today.
Private Equity: Coronavirus May Push Private Equity Dry Powder into Action
The dramatic decline in equity markets due to the coronavirus could solve one of the private equity industry’s biggest problems.
Last year, the industry raised over $300 billion in commitments to private equity investments. As a result of his success, the industry entered the year with over $1 trillion in dry powder.
But all that money created a problem. With valuations surging, too much money chased too few ideas. Buyouts became extremely difficult due to valuation concerns. Dry powder accumulated.
Firms do not start earning fees until they deploy cash, so private equity dry powder wasn’t delivering returns.
FinTech: Lifetise, A Financial Planning Platform, is Crowdfunding on Seedrs
Caroline Hughes was recently crowned a “Standout 35 Star” by Innovate Finance and included in its annual Women in Fintech Powerlist. Her Lifeties startup is raising £250,001 on crowdfunding platform Seedrs through issue of 5.88% equity at a pre-money valuation of £3,999,888. The startup has already raised a sum of £179,889.
Liquid Alternatives: The Black Swan ETF, Holding Up as It was Meant To
By every definition, the coronavirus pandemic is a ‘black swan’ event, one that is unpredictable or unforeseen but with extreme consequences.
The Amplify Black Swan Growth & Treasury Core ETF (NYSEARCA: SWAN) is designed for times like these. The coronavirus epidemic has sent global stock markets into a tailspin on fears of a massive recession.
Digital Assets: Emerging Trends After the Virus Pushed Real Estate Across the Digital Divide
Foreigners located in Japan, South Korea, China have suddenly discovered the virtues of closing property deals in the US remotely and online, writes Natalia Karayaneva in an article in Forbes. And the coronavirus deserves the blame (or credit).
The DailyAlts Playbook: Limit Down, Bill De Blasio’s Economic Ignorance, and Scott Minerd on the Market
We start today where we left on Thursday night. Friday was a dead cat bounce, and we’re back to limit down. The Dow Jones projected a 1,041 point loss in premarket hours after futures hit “limit down.” The downturn came despite news that the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to zero and introduced a quantitative easing program that is worth $700 billion.
Venture Capital: Reddit Co-founder Ohanian “@Initializes” Billboards in Times Square
On Saturday, passersby in New York’s Times Square may have been bemused to see a billboard saying “Staying home means saving lives,” with the hashtag “#FlattenTheCurve” at the bottom. Said billboard was purchased by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to slow down the spread of the virus.
ESG: Older ESG Funds Are Beating New Ones in Performance
ESG investment funds with long track records are beating new competitors as the markets continue to unravel. Roughly 400 of the 2,800 ESG funds were in positive territory for the year as of last Thursday evening. Just 45 of the funds had gains of 10% since January 1.
The data, compiled by Bloomberg, says that 70% of those ESG funds opened before 2015.
Alternative Investments: Elliott Supports SoftBank’s Buyback Plan
SoftBank has announced a $4.8 billion buyback plan, news that brings joy to Elliott Management.
According to a report, SoftBank can purchase additional shares at the completion of the merger between T-Mobile (NYSE: TMUS) and Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S). The total buyback represents about 7% of SoftBank’s outstanding stock. The buyback program will operate from March 16 through March 15, 2021. Shares were off despite the news as part of a broader market decline.
Hedge Funds: Carl Icahn Has Been Shorting Commercial Mortgage Bonds
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn told CNBC on Friday that he has been shorting the commercial bond market. The activist investor said that his short was his “biggest position by far” in an interview on Friday. Specifically, he is targeting corporate offices and shopping malls. Based on the recent downturn in the markets, he’s likely doing well for himself.
Icahn said he expects U.S. commercial real estate to pull back sharply as we saw with housing in 2008.
Liquid Alternatives: Emerging Market Economies (And ETFs) To Benefit From The Oil Crash
One man’s meat is another man’s poison goes the saying. While oil-producing countries and US-listed oil companies have borne the brunt of the massive slide in crude oil prices recently, certain emerging market countries will, however, benefit.
Venture Capital: A Robotics Startup That Lived To Tell The Tale
Denmark-based Blue Ocean Robotics, led by Claus Risager, is selling hundreds of hospital robots to China to aid in the country’s battle against the coronavirus. At €60,000 each (US$67,000), the UVD robots glide around hospitals and healthcare facilities beaming UV light to destroy bacteria and viruses.
Digital Assets: The Celo Foundation Plans Cryptocurrency for Billions of Smartphone Users
The Celo Foundation announced the Alliance for Prosperity with 50 founding members. They share a common mission to make digital assets available to everyone through Celo’s decentralized, open-source blockchain platform. They will do this by enabling the various use cases of digital currency such as to give, earn, spend, lend, or send, etc.
FinTech: Revolut Adds Gold To Its App
Revolut has partnered for gold custody services with the London Bullion Market Association. Gold purchased by a customer via the Revolut App will be held by this firm. The customer need not bother with physical handling or storage of the yellow metal. Gold purchases via the app are now available to Revolut users with a Metal or Premium account.
Artificial Intelligence: Now AI Could Unlock Secrets From 2,500-Year Old Iranian Tablets
Researchers at the University of Chicago’s DeepScribe project have deployed machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to decipher thousands of clay tablets dating back to the ancient Iranian Achaemenid Empire (550–330 BC).
The DailyAlts Playbook: Buffett Plays to an Empty Room, Disney is Going to Be Quiet, and China’s Latest Lies
THE DAILYALTS PLAYBOOK March 13, 2020 Today, the DailyAlts Playbook talks about Buffett Playing to an Empty Room, Disney’s Quiet Period, and China’s Latest Lies. PRIME OVERVIEW Good morning: We start today where we left last night. I was up until around 1 a.m. watching the Futures market tank yet again with the Dow off…
ESG: Standard Life Makes Huge Pivot with 25 New Funds
Standard Life ESG investment will be a major trend in the year ahead. Standard Life Aberdeen has announced plans for 25 new funds centered around sustainability. According to Citywire, the firm is looking to bolster its brand and incorprate ESG into almost every investment decision. Keith Skeoch announced the plan during the publication of the company’s full-year financial performance this week.
Alternative Investments: CoronaVirus Roundup for Thursday, March 12, 2020
Coronavirus has paralyzed the global markets, with Europe experiencing its worst one-day downturn in history. The FTSE shed 10.8%, the DAX was off 12.2%, and the CAC shed 12.5%. Here in the United States, the New York Fed loaded more than $1 trillion and fired it into the Repo markets. If you remember that scene in Independence Day where the world fires a nuclear bomb at the alien space ship, only to see it bounce off with no impact… it was a lot like that.
Alternative Investments: Activists Pressure GameStop for Board Seat
Hestia Capital Partners is part of a group of investors pushing for a board seat at embattled gaming retailer GameStop (NYSE: GME).
A report indicates that Hestia joins Permit Capital Enterprise Fund and its affiliates in the pursuit of a board seat. They raised concerns in a letter that no current director has a sizeable stake in the company. The group owns about 7.5% of the company stock.
Liquid Alternatives: What the Proposed New Regulations on Leveraged ETFs Mean for Investors
The SEC’s proposed regulations have triggered widespread opposition, particularly those relating to leveraged (geared) ETFs.
The public has until March 24, 2020, to submit its comments on the proposals.
Artificial Intelligence: IBM’s Debater AI Technology Set for Commercialization
IBM Research’s Project Debater, the only AI system capable of debating humans on complex topics, will soon help businesses to better utilize language and text-based data. The Debater technology enabled a computer to read up documents and articles and enter a debate with a human being. IBM (NYSE: IBM) will soon commercialize this AI-powered technology through its products such as Watson NLP, Watson Knowledge Studio, and Watson Discovery.
Venture Capital: Nissan Motors to Bails Out of Venture Fund With Auto Partners
Nissan Motor Company is reportedly exiting a venture capital fund it operates with several auto alliance partners. Reports indicate that the Japanese auto maker is looking to cut costs and preserve cash. The fund’s other partners are Mitsubishi Motors and Renault.
Digital Assets: Industry Funding for Digital Asset Data Providers Surpasses $110 Million
A global study was conducted by Outlier Ventures and DIA of 42 digital asset market data vendors globally. These vendors handle data for daily trading volumes exceeding US$100 billion. This newly emerging market of digital asset data providers is growing fast, the study found.
Venture Capital: New Enterprise Associates (NEA) Raises $3.6 Billion For Its Latest, And Biggest Fund
New Enterprise Associates Inc (NEA) closed on $3.6 billion in its largest fund so far. As in the past, the fund will invest most of the money in early-stage companies at various levels of growth. The 42-year old VC firm said the funding had brought its committed capital to nearly $24 billion.