The Hoot #29

2023 Hedge Fund Returns 📊

Author

Matt Brimacombe
July 10th, 2023

Scatt's Seeds for Thought:

🌱 BlackRock is ALL IN on Bitcoin 🎲

🌱 2023 Hedge Fund Returns 📊

🌱 The Private Credit Boom 🌋

🌱 Size of The Oil Market? 🛢️

Meme of The Week

Year-to-date Market Performance:

  • S&P 500: 14.57%

  • Dow: 1.77%

  • Nasdaq Comp: 30.52%

  • Bitcoin: 82.56%

  • Ethereum: 55.69%

  • Scatt Capital’s Fortune Strategy: 9.12% (Since Inception (12/22): 4.78%)

Market News:

  • 7-Day Change in Crypto Market Cap: -$20bn

  • WELCOME TO THE 3rd QUARTER!

  • AMERICANS SPENT ~$4BN ON ALCOHOL ON JULY 4th

  • FOMC MINUTES SHOWED HAWKISH FED MEMBERS

  • SEVERAL BITCOIN ETF RE-FILINGS

  • VC FUNDING IN USA IS DOWN 50% YoY IN Q2

  • EV SALES SURGED 50% IN FIRST HALF OF 2023

  • UK PASSES MAJOR BILL THAT LEGALLY RECOGNIZES CRYPTO

  • US 2Y TREASURY HIT 5%: HIGHEST SINCE 2007

  • PRIVATE SECTOR ADDED 497K JOBS IN JUNE, SMASHING EST.

  • U.S. UNEMPLOYMENT: 3.6%; EXPECTED: 3.7%

  • THE WEEK AHEAD: U.S. Retail Sales (June); Housing Starts (June); Existing Home Sales (June) 

BlackRock is ALL IN on Bitcoin 🎲

They recently filed for a Bitcoin ETF. We know they aren’t scared of it.

But wow… this was next level.

Larry Fink, BlackRock’s Founder & CEO, in 2017: “Bitcoin is an index of money laundering”

Larry Fink Now: “Crypto is digital gold & will revolutionize finance as we know it”

You can’t make this stuff up…

He recently interviewed on Fox Business. The key takeaways on crypto:

  • It could revolutionize finance

  • It’s digitizing gold

  • It’s an alternative hedge against inflation (or devaluation of currencies)

  • It’s an international asset

‘Gradually, then all at once’ as the famous quote goes.

2023 Hedge Fund Returns 📊

‘Hedge fund’ sounds like a superior word. Maybe it’s just me.

Here are major hedge fund strategies & their returns in 2023 so far:

Equity Long/Short: +4.23%

Multi Strat: +2.07%

Credit: +2.98%

Quant: -0.07%

Macro: -0.49%

Event Driven: +1.17%

Arbitrage: +0.8%

Long Biased: +1.08%

To give you context, the S&P500 is up 15% this year & the Nasdaq is up more than 30%…

Sometimes they have superior profiles, but less-than superior returns 📉

The Private Credit Boom 🌋

Money moving faster than a caffeinated cheetah & interest rates higher than a unicorn on stilts.

Also known as: The private credit market.

Private lenders have turned lending into an absolute gold mine 🥇

The market has experienced significant growth over the last few years, boosted by the Fed’s recent rate hikes.

There is limited retail access to this market, however there are a few funds that can offer you exposure.

Reply to this email if you’re interested in finding out more!

The Size of The Oil Market? 🛢️

My favorite drug cartel in the world? OPEC+, without a doubt.

You think the oil market is big? Wrong ❌ It is MASSIVE.

The size of the top 10 metal markets COMBINED is $967bn.

The oil market is almost 2.2 times bigger than this, standing at more than $2.1 trillion.

OPEC produce 40% of all crude oil, and their exports equate to about 60% of all petroleum trade.

Crazy once you realize how monopolized the market actually is…

If you like receiving market updates, check us out here on LinkedIn; here on Twitter; or here on Instagram 📊

See you next week 🦉

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.