INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
One of last year’s best-performing hedge funds says the “trade of the century” is to buy gold and sell stocks as risk assets are due
for another meltdown.
It’s only a matter of time until the bearish bet pays off big, according to Crescat Capital.
While the Denver-based
firm has only about $50 million under management, it has a history of outperforming the SP 500 Index — with its Global Macro Fund
returning 41 per cent last year alone.
Now the investment company says it’s ready to capitalise on an end of the economic cycle as
indicators warn that a recession is imminent in the coming quarters.
The consensus is pointing to a recession in 2020 or 2021, Tavi Costa, a
global macro analyst at Crescat, said on telephone
“We think it’s a lot closer than that and we have a number of macro timing indicators that we look at.”
Going long on gold in yuan
terms and shorting global equities currently explains three-quarters of the hedge fund’s strategy
While the firm uses the MSCI World Index in models to visualise the trade, it goes a bit deeper with its short position, selecting
individual stocks and exchange-traded funds to bet against.
Among the warning signs, Crescat cites corporate insiders who are currently
selling stocks hand over fist — indicating a potential stock bubble burst
In early 2017, those investors heavily sold shares while the SP 500 continued climbing
That happened again in 2018
With smart money selling once again, “the third time should be the charm for the stubborn US market,” Crescat wrote to clients.
US
economic data is deteriorating and inversions remain across the Treasury yield curve, the hedge fund pointed out
Measuring multiple yield spreads across the curve from Fed Funds to 30-year Treasury bonds, Crescat found that almost 45% of the curve is
inverted.
“The last two times the credit markets had such a high distortion, asset bubbles began to fall apart shortly thereafter,”
Crescat wrote.
As for the almost 13% rebound in global stocks in 2019, Costa said the firm has a high conviction it’s simply a bearmarket
Just about everything has bounced since the start of the year, accompanied by an abrupt decline in the Cboe Volatility Index, or the VIX —
signs reminiscent of head fakes in such advances.
“Soon the buy-the-dip mentality and bull-market greed will turn to fear
Selling will beget more selling
That’s how bear markets work,” Crescat wrote
“There is so much more ahead to profit from the short side of the market
The bear market rally is running out of steam!”
The firm’s Global Macro Fund has posted an annualised return of near 12% since it was
created in 2006, according to its website — greater than the SP 500’s 8%
Crescat’s Long/Short and Large Cap funds have also outperformed.
