George Soros Dumps U.S. Stocks – Dives Into Gold

The legendary investor’s Soros Fund Management – which has approximately $25bn (£16bn) under management – reduced its equity investments by 42pc to $5.1bn by the end of June, down from $8.8bn at the end of March.

The asset allocation decisions were made during a period in which the Standard & Poor’s 500 index – the broadest US equity index – fell 12pc.

The fact that Mr Soros – best known as the man reputed to have made $1bn by “breaking the Bank of England” during the 1992 fiscal crisis – has decided to make such a concerted shift out of equities will send a clear message to other investors.

Gone are Soros’s investments in Petrobras, Brazil’s oil giant, with investments in bellwether stocks such as Wal-Mart, JP Morgan Chase and Pfizer drastically reduced, cut by 99pc, 97pc and 95pc respectively.

Of those equities that do remain, the fund’s holding in a gold exchange traded fund constitutes his largest investment, some 13pc of the equity portfolio, worth $638m.

Although neither Mr Soros of his fund typically do not explain their quarterly investment decisions, it is likely some of the money has been shifted into government bonds, as well as investing in commodities and other safe havens.

The quarterly report – filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission – details investments only in US-traded shares and related derivatives, and the fund does not have to detail overseas shares or cash or commodities held.

A spokesman for Mr Soros did not comment.

George Soros slashes exposure to US equities

Billionaire investor George Soros in the second quarter stuck with his big bet on gold but slashed his holdings in dozens of major U.S. companies from Verizon Communications to Pfizer.

Soros also may have sold his entire holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4.SA) (PBR.N).

In a quarterly securities filing on Monday, Soros Fund Management reported owning substantially fewer U.S. listed stocks than three months earlier. The fund listed $5.1 billion of equities as of June 30, down 42 percent from $8.8 billion at the end of March.

After a terrible quarter for the stock market that saw the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index plunge 12 percent, Soros may have been anticipating further turbulence ahead.

Top holdings from the first quarter including energy producers Hess Corp (HES.N) and Suncor Energy (SU.TO) and telecommunications giant Verizon were slashed. At the end of the second quarter he had $1.5 million worth of Hess, down from $302.5 million, $13.6 million of Suncor, down from $285.3 million and $395,000 worth of Verizon (VZ.N), down from $175.1 million.

The firm also cut back on drugmaker Pfizer (PFE.N), with holdings worth $4.7 million down from $91.4 million, banking company, JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), cut to $3.9 million from $114.9 million, and Wal-Mart Stores (WMT.N), down to $673,000 from $72.9 million.

Soros does not typically explain his quarter-to-quarter moves. A spokesman for the firm declined to comment.

GOLD MOVES TO TOP

The fund firm said it owned 5.24 million shares of the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD.P) worth $638 million as of June 30. Though down slightly from the fund’s 5.59 million shares owned at the end of the first quarter, that was the fund’s biggest holding by dollar value.

With the sale of so many other holdings, the Gold ETF constituted almost 13 percent of the firm’s total equities, up from 7 percent at the end of the first quarter.

Much of the rest of the top holdings at the firm at the end of the second quarter were convertible bonds from high technology companies like RF Micro Devices (RFMD) and Epicor Software (EPIC)

There was no sign in the filing of Soros’s largest holding from the first quarter, Brazilian oil giant Petrobras. The fund owned almost 15 million shares in two classes of stock as of March 31.

That usually signals a total sale of the position but money managers can leave stocks out of their quarterly reports or seek confidential treatment if they are actively trading in the shares.

The disappearance of Petrobras from the Soros filing comes as the state-owned oil producer has wrestled with a huge capital raising plan that also includes buying rights to billions of barrels of offshore oil from the government. In June, the company delayed the planned share sale and oil swap from July until September.

Money managers like Soros are required to file form 13-F within 45 days after the end of each quarter. The forms include only U.S.-listed equity securities and related derivatives. Bonds, other securities and short positions are typically not disclosed. (Reporting by Aaron Pressman; editing by Carol Bishopric)


Soros favoured gold in Q2, cut US equities

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Brindes

@Barney

A human life is still a human life, and cancer isnt exactly a disease i would wish even to people that i dislike.

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Barney

he's got cancer and soon to be gone

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Milwaukee moving companies

Agreed with Chigger.

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Chigger

Why do people hate George Soros? I think he is a lovely man.

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Saltwatersuz

I agree with Notasheeple.

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Notasheeple

He is a corrupt Bastard and should be hung from a Lamp Post with most of our Politicians......

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