Soros Fund Management reduced its holdings in U.S. stocks in the fourth quarter and moved about $2 billion into companies in Asia and Europe, according to Bloomberg.
Other big hedge fund managers made a similar call on U.S. equities as a slide in oil prices hammered energy holdings.
Undoubtedly, anticipation of more stimulus from the European Central Bank, along with a weaker euro and expectations of solid earnings, has had an affect on sending money overseas.
The New York-based company returned
about 8 percent in 2014 and is up 1.5 percent this year, said
the person, who asked not to be identified.
A similar call on US equities was made by other big hedge fund managers. David Tepper’s Appaloosa Management had $2.74 billion less in U.S. stocks in the fourth quarter, a 40 percent drop from the previous quarter. According to regulatory filings, Louis Bacon’s $14.8 billion Moore Capital Management had $2.3 billion in U.S. equities at the end of the year, about 25 percent less than the end of September.
Some managers, such as Leon Cooperman, 71, remain bullish on the U.S., while predicting bigger gains elsewhere.
“We expect the European and Japanese equity markets to outperform the U.S. in the coming year,” Cooperman, who runs Omega Advisors, wrote in an investor letter last month.
Some funds concentrated their sales on oil and natural gas producers.
Jana Partners, the $11 billion hedge-fund firm run by Barry Rosenstein, had $2.7 billion less in U.S. holdings at the end of the fourth quarter. The New York-based firm, known for taking stakes in companies and then urging management to make changes to boost the stock price, exited its stakes in 41 U.S. stocks including QEP Resources Inc. and Apache Corp.
Soros, 84, has a net worth of $26 billion. His firm had 186 positions as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing, down by almost a third from the previous quarter.
