- Jesse Livermore is known for both colossal gains and losses. He made $million in 1929, and by 1934 he had lost all of it (an example that confirms the huge risk involved in stock trading).
- George Soros is one of history’s most successful stock and forex traders. He gained the nickname “the man who broke the bank of England” when he made $1 billion profit from selling $10 billion worth of pounds. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management.
- Richard Dennis is a successful commodity trader based in Chicago. He made an estimated $200 million over a period of ten years from market speculating.
- Paul Tudor Jones became famous after the market crash of 1987 to make a whopping $100 million from shorting stocks. He is the founder of Tudor Investment Corporation.
- William Delbert Gann is known for developing technical indicators like Gann Angles and the Square of 9. He was a trader who used market forecasting techniques based on astrology, geometry, and mathematics.
- Bill Lipschutz turned $12000 investment in the stock market to $25000 in a few months but lost all of it. He then moved to forex trading, where he has made over $300 million.
- John R. Taylor Jr started as a political analyst for a chemical bank before becoming their forex analyst. He is the owner of FX Concepts, which is a currency managing firm.
- Stanley Druckenmiller is a successful trader who started as an oil analyst for the Pittsburgh National Bank. He was a part of a deal while working at George Soros that raked in $1 billion.
- Andrew Krieger is one of the best trader in the world. He sold kiwi, a New Zealand currency, a trade valued more than the total currency supply. He got revenue of $300 million from the trade.
- Michael Marcus is one of the best and most successful forex traders in the world. Legend Ed Seykota trained him. During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, Marcus held positions of almost $300 million in German marks.
Archives of “000” tag
rssWarren Buffett makes a big bet on gold
Buffett bought a stake in miner Barrick Gold
Warren Buffett has famously disparaged gold but evidently he’s had a change of heart.
According to a Q2 13F filed today, The Oracle of Omaha added 20.9 million shares of Barrick Gold, which is the world’s second largest gold miner. He paid $563.5 million for the stake, which equates to $26.95 per share and his Berkshire Hathaway owns 1.2% of the company. It was the only new company he bought in the second quarter.
The shares closed at $26.99 on Friday but jumped about $1.00 in after hours trading.
This could indicate a massive change of heart from the world’s most famous investor, or one of his deputies.
His most-famous musing on gold was from back in 1998:
“(Gold) gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”
As recently as 2018 he repeated his misgivings about gold.
“The magical metal was no match for the American mettle,” he wrote in his annual letter while comparing the returns of both since he first invested in stocks in 1944.
Now this doesn’t necessarily mean he has a new view on gold. Barrick’s cash flows with gold steady at these levels are compelling (and other miners are even more compelling). Still, expect much more interest in the space now that Warren Buffett has given it his blessing.
Other highlights from his Q2 13F:
- Exited Occidental Petroleum, but added to Suncor Energy
- Cut JPMorgan stake by 62%
- Cut Mastercard stake by 7%
- Aside from SU, only added to STOR and KR
- Reduced WFC, SIRI, PNC, MTB, BK
- Exited DAL, LUV, UAL, AAL, QSR, GS, OXY
In terms of the ones he reduced. In general Buffett doesn’t sell shares unless he plans to sell out. However at times he has to sell to stay below ownership limits.
Overall, his investment mix doesn’t exactly show confidence in the economic or stock market recovery.
Full statement of the BOE August monetary policy meeting decision
The full statement by the BOE on its August policy decision
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) sets monetary policy to meet the 2% inflation target, and in a way that helps to sustain growth and employment. In that context, its challenge at present is to respond to the economic and financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. At its meeting ending on 4 August 2020, the MPC voted unanimously to maintain Bank Rate at 0.1%. The Committee voted unanimously for the Bank of England to continue with its existing programmes of UK government bond and sterling non-financial investment-grade corporate bond purchases, financed by the issuance of central bank reserves, maintaining the target for the total stock of these purchases at £745 billion.
The Committee’s projections for activity and inflation are set out in the accompanying August Monetary Policy Report. Although recent developments suggest a less weak starting point for the Committee’s latest projections, it is unclear how informative they are about how the economy will perform further out. The outlook for the UK and global economies remains unusually uncertain. It will depend critically on the evolution of the pandemic, measures taken to protect public health, and how governments, households and businesses respond to these factors. The MPC’s projections assume that the direct impact of Covid-19 on the economy dissipates gradually over the forecast period. Given the inherent uncertainties regarding the evolution of the pandemic, the MPC’s medium-term projections are a less informative guide than usual.
Global activity has strengthened over recent months, although it generally remains below its level in 2019 Q4. Covid-19 has continued to spread rapidly within a number of emerging market economies, however, and there has been a renewed rise in cases in many advanced economies. (more…)
EU proposes €750 billion pandemic stimulus fund
Including €390 billion in grants
the EU is proposing a €750 billion stimulus fund. The grants within that fund are proposed at €390 billion. This is lower than the €500 billion that Germany and France propose, but is higher than the €350 billion billion counterproposal from the so-called frugal countries.
- You proposes €1.074 trillion for blocks 2021 – 2027 budget