Appaloosas, David Tepper, Reveals Big Bets in the Energy Sector

The $18 billion hedge fund manager, who run his shop from the Short Hills shopping mall in NJ, and acquires $45 million beach homes in the Hamptons, only to tear them down to build bigger ones, has revealed some big bets in some distressed energy stocks.

According to the fund’s latest 13-F filing made on Friday, Tepper bought 9.4 million shares of energy company Kinder Morgan, whose shares are roughly flat this year even as commodity prices have fallen. The fund bought 4.3 million shares of natural gas and oil exploration company Southwestern Energy Co. who’s shares have climbed 25 percent this year.
He also bought 2.3 million shares of Williams Partners LP, which has tumbled 50 percent, and added 3.5 million shares of natural resource company Freeport-McMoRan, whose stock has dropped 18 percent this year.

Say what you want about Tepper, he’s proven to be one heck of a trader. I like these plays running into strong seasonality for the industry, post apocalypse.

The very thing that saved him from undergoing heinous losses may hold him back now, as markets set to move higher.

Loeb, whose fund lost just 1.5% last year, announced on Friday that he’s taken in a lot of equity shorts to hedge against the downward action.

A renewed focus on generating alpha on both sides of the portfolio has led us to increase single-name equity shorts by four-fold over the past year. Our total equity short exposure is nearly $4.5 billion today,” Loeb wrote in a letter to clients dated February 12 and seen by Reuters.

Loeb, whose $17.5 billion hedge fund has delivered an average return of 16.2 percent a year over the last two decades, did not mince words in his assessment of tumbling markets.
“The indices’ drastic declines actually fail to capture the true carnage revealed when you take a closer look at the breadth of S&P companies experiencing massive losses,” he wrote.

A hedge fund that actually hedges? Amazing.

According to his own tweets, West is $53 million in debt aka bankrupt.

He the appealed to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg for assistance to help “make the world dope” (that was in another one of his idiot tweets). By the way, he’s only asking for 1 billion dollars (extra Dr. Evil).

After getting nowhere with his first appeal, Kanye took to begging. Nothing says “invest in me” like admitting bankruptcy and then going off on a deranged Twitter rant.

After getting nowhere with Mark, Kanye has now set his sights on Larry Page from Google.

Okay, you’re now up to date.

They should give them an offer they can’t refuse (sorry, I had to).

The Italian government sent 250 more troops to Naples on Monday to help fight an upsurge of violence in the crime-plagued city.
Local police are struggling to bring order to the Naples area, where 12 people have been killed this year in murders linked to a mob turf war.

“From today, 250 soldiers will take part in high-impact operations in Naples,” Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said in a statement.

About 900 soldiers are already assigned to security operations in Naples but local officials had called for further help following the wave of killings, including three last week.

Maya if they let Hollywood in Naples to do “Mobwives of Naples” in there for some reality teevee, the area could be gentrified. Or, perhaps one of our generous book publishers can offer “tell all” deals to key players in their organizations, which will fracture the fabric of their criminal bonds.

900 troops might work too.

Rich people are getting bored. This buffalo just fetched over $11 million in S Africa.

“It was a unique opportunity to own the best genes in the world,” said Hendrik de Kock, a marketer at Wildswinkel (Pty) Ltd., which ran the auction.

Horizon’s four owners, including Bellingham, have the right to provide him with ten buffalo cows each year and keep the offspring, De Kock said. Breeders in South Africa, the biggest market for such animals, are willing to pay record prices for the genes of buffaloes they believe can increase their herd’s horn span, which is desirable to hunters.

The industry has attracted wealthy investors such as Rupert, who controls jewelry maker Richemont, the maker of Cartier watches. South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Norman Adami, the former chairman of SABMiller Plc’s local unit, have also made investments in the animals.

Interesting concept, buying to best genes and all. I can’t wait until this investment theme spills over into humans. Could you imagine how much the rights to S Jobs’ DNA would fetch for, if a fucking 55 inch horned Buffalo took in $11 mill?

European indices are enjoying sharp rallies today, led by the banks. The gains have increased throughout the day, since oil reversed to the upside.

Most markets are higher by almost 3%.

U.S futs are at session highs, looking to extend to gains enjoyed on Friday.

In a related note, the ECB President, Mario Draghi, was especially blunt in a statement issued today, offering succor to the markets, unlike his American counterpart, Janet Yellen.

“In the light of the recent financial turmoil, we will analyze the state of transmission of our monetary impulses by the financial system and in particular by banks,” Draghi told European Parliament lawmakers in Brussels on Monday. In addition, the ECB will examine the impact of renewed declines in energy prices and “if either of these two factors entail downward risks to price stability, we will not hesitate to act,” he said.

I mentioned this eventuality last week, as the current paranoia surrounding European banks could be easily handled by the ECB. With this backstop, a rally of extremes is most likely to occur in US markets tomorrow.

European markets are up and running, with most indices higher by 2.0%. Gains are to be found most in the banks, with extensive priority being placed in the shares of ING (+5.7%), Unicredit (+5.5%), Socgen (4.5%), BNP Paribas (+4%), Commerzbank (+5%) and Deutsche Bank (+4.3%).

U.S. markets are closed today, in observance of President’s day. Nonetheless, futures traders are bidding up the markets with vigor, suggesting an opening of +160 to the Dow and 43 for the NASDAQ.

Gold is being sold, broadly, off by 2.1%–counteracting the gains found in equities. Conversely, copper is higher by 2.7% and  oil is essentially flat.

For the time being, it appears the menace from the east has been placed at bay, and risk assets are fashionably being acquired by managers with ground to make up.

This should resonate well with Freeport shareholders, as the company is following through with promises to deleverage the balance sheet.

Freeport-McMoRan Inc., the U.S. copper producer that’s seeking to cut debt after the rout in commodities hammered prices, agreed to sell an additional 13 percent stake in its Morenci mine in Arizona to Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. for $1 billion.

The transaction will cut Freeport’s stake in the open-pit mine to 72 percent from 85 percent, while 28 percent will be owned by Sumitomo Metal, as well as unit that’s jointly owned with Sumitomo Corp., according to a statement on Monday. Freeport expects to record a gain of about $550 million on the deal, it said.

Commodities producers including miners are cutting debt, trimming production and slashing spending as copper prices trade near a six-year low. Freeport, which is seeking to cut its debt by $5 billion to $10 billion, last month flagged it would consider deals involving core operations, which include Morenci. The rout in raw materials is putting pressure even on major operators, potentially spurring sales of top-tier mines, Rio Tinto Group’s Chief Executive Officer Sam Walsh told Bloomberg Television last week.

“This transaction represents an important initial step toward our objective to accelerate debt reduction and restore our balance sheet while retaining a portfolio of high-quality assets and resources,” Freeport Chief Executive Officer Richard C. Adkerson said in a statement on Monday.

Shares of FCX are down 18% for the year and have a short interest of 21% of the companies float. Conditions appear to be bleak for shorts, at least in the interim.

Everyone in Japan are millionaires now. The NIKKEI 225 is up a clownish 7% this evening, or 1,000 points.

Dow futures are through the roof.

Prepare yourselves for extreme decadence. We’re all rich again, some much rich than others of course

The NIKKEI is up more than 700 points or 5%. The Shanghai is off a bit, because they were on siesta last week celebrating monkies. And, Hong Kong is up more than 2%, lending to a fervent rise in the civilized world.

EuroStoxx futures are rallying by 2.77%, with Italian futures meatballing higher by 3.85%.

Here in the states, home of the New World Order, NASDAQ futures are higher by 40.

Gold is getting tea bagged by 1.25%.

Crude is off a smidge, 1%.

Portuguese-German spreads are flat at 329 bps.

Dollars are weaker v euros, by 0.3% and higher v the yen by 0.54%

You do see how all of this is intertwined, yes? If not, feel free to ask questions.

Most importantly, the PBOC are getting extra manipulative with their currency tonight, putting the yuan up by 0.9% to $6.517, representing the biggest one day jump since 2005.

The People’s Bank of China earlier raised the daily fixing against the dollar, which restricts onshore moves to a maximum 2 percent on either side, by 0.3 percent to 6.514, the strongest since Jan. 4. A gauge of dollar strength declined 0.8 percent last week, when onshore Chinese markets were shut for the Lunar New Year Holiday