What you need to know on Wall Street today
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Here's why hedge funds could keep the stock sell-off raging - and what you can do to protect yourself
As the stock market suffers through its most recent bout of selling pressure, it feels as if a perfect storm of bearish factors have culminated simultaneously.
There are spiking Treasury yields, which have reduced the relative appeal of equities and exacerbated fears of a liquidity crunch.
Then there's President Donald Trump's trade war, which has rattled nerves worldwide and left investors to assess the potential market fallout.
There's also the unfortunate fact that corporate share buybacks- which have buoyed stocks during lean times throughout the 9-1/2-year bull market- are in a market-wide blackout period prior to earnings season.
And if all of that weren't stark enough, hedge funds are doing their part to make the experience as miserable as possible. After all, it's their most popular holdings that are absorbing the brunt of the selling.
There's been a shakeup in Goldman Sachs' trading division - and a 28-year veteran is out
A 28-year veteran of Goldman Sachs is leaving the firm as new CEO David Solomon looks to put his mark on the bank.
John Willian, who previously served as the bank's global head of fixed income, currency and commodities sales (FICC), is retiring from Goldman, according to a memo on Tuesday.
He'll remain an adviser to the bank, the memo said.
Av Bhavsar, who oversees US credit and mortgage sales, and Ricardo Mora, global head of FICC emerging markets distribution and head of Americas foreign exchange sales, will now become coheads of fixed income, currency and commodities sales in the Americas, the memo said.
A small team of traders at Goldman Sachs made $100 million betting on natural gas
Goldman Sachs has bounced back from last year's commodities rout.
The investment bank racked up $100 million in the first half trading natural gas, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The money was made by Shane Lee, a Calgary-based trader who previously worked at the hedge fund Amaranth Advisors, and his team, the people said.
The performance was a reversal from 2017, when natural-gas bets in the second quarter went so poorly that the commodities-trading department turned in its worst annual performance in the bank's history as a public company.
Commodities trading, once one of the bank's most vaunted businesses, saw revenue plummet 75% to less than $300 million last year, Bloomberg has reported. That was down more than 90% from a high of $3.4 billion in 2009.
In markets news
- MORGAN STANLEY: The stock market has reached a 'tipping point' - and the market's most beloved companies could be hit hardest
- An ongoing market trend that typically appears during global recessions could have a 'phenomenally painful' ending, the $603 billion investor Allianz says