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Elliott Management picks up new stakes in Alcoa, Dell Technologies

Paul Singer’s Elliott Management disclosed new stakes in Dell Technologies, and Alcoa Corp. in the fourth quarter, according to a Tuesday regulatory filing. Between the third and fourth quarters, Singer’s fund acquired 7.1 million shares of Dell worth $392 million. That paired with the purchase of Dell call options, which confer an owner the right but not the obligation to buy shares at a set price, representing 2.8 million shares or $154 million, according to file-tracking firm WhaleWisdom.com. The fund picked up 10.2 million shares of Alcoa worth $287 million, and 3 million shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. valued at $168 million, as of Dec. 31. Meanwhile, Elliott reduced call options tied to biopharmaceutical company Allergan , cutting those holdings by the equivalent of 1.1 million shares, or $210 million, as of Dec. 31. It made no change to its direct exposure to Allergan’s stock, retaining a 2.7 million shares worth about $574 million. Large investors are required to reveal their long equity holdings at the end of each quarter in public filings.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Elliott Management picks up new stakes in Alcoa, Dell Technologies

Paul Singer’s Elliott Management disclosed new stakes in Dell Technologies, and Alcoa Corp. in the fourth quarter, according to a Tuesday regulatory filing. Between the third and fourth quarters, Singer’s fund acquired 7.1 million shares of Dell worth $392 million. That paired with the purchase of Dell call options, which confer an owner the right but not the obligation to buy shares at a set price, representing 2.8 million shares or $154 million, according to file-tracking firm WhaleWisdom.com. The fund picked up 10.2 million shares of Alcoa worth $287 million, and 3 million shares of Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. valued at $168 million, as of Dec. 31. Meanwhile, Elliott reduced call options tied to biopharmaceutical company Allergan , cutting those holdings by the equivalent of 1.1 million shares, or $210 million, as of Dec. 31. It made no change to its direct exposure to Allergan’s stock, retaining a 2.7 million shares worth about $574 million. Large investors are required to reveal their long equity holdings at the end of each quarter in public filings.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Ackman boosted Chipotle holdings, pared Valeant in 4th quarter

There were no major surprises in activist hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman’s fourth-quarter filing on Tuesday, which showed his Pershing Square Capital boosted its stake in burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill and pared its holdings of Valeant Pharmaceuticals . As previously disclosed, Ackman bought more than 2.3 million shares of Chipotle in the fourth quarter, the filing showed, bringing his stake to 2.882 million shares, or 9.96% of the company, as of Dec. 31. Pershing Square and Chipotle reached a settlement in December that gave the fund two seats on restaurant chain’s board. Ackman had also disclosed in December that Pershing Square had cut its stake in Valeant by nearly 3.5 million shares to help generate a loss for tax purposes.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Merck shares slip after hours as Alzheimer’s study halted

Shares of Merck & Co. gave up their regular session gains after hours Tuesday when the drugmaker said it was halting a study of an Alzheimer’s drug because it did not appear to be working. Merck shares fell 1.5% to $64.69 after hours, following a 1.4% gain in the regular session. Merck said it stopped a clinical study of the drug verubecestat because a data monitoring committee said there was “virtually no chance of finding a positive clinical effect” for the drug under the study protocol. A different study of the drug for Alzheimer’s, however, will continue, Merck said.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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CFTC charges Orlando man and his two companies with gold sales fraud

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed charges in Florida on Tuesday against Carlos Javier Ramirez, Gold Chasers, Inc., and Royal Leisure International, Inc., for allegedly misappropriating approximately $3.95 million of their customers’ funds, and paying Ponzi scheme profits to some customers in connection with the purported purchase of physical gold. Phony invoices and account statements were allegedly issued to some customers in an attempt to conceal the fraud. According to the complaint, the defendants allegedly fraudulently offered contracts to sell gold to at least 20 customers who reside in the U.S., Puerto Rico, and abroad, marketing one of their schemes through their website, www.mygolddesk.com. They allegedly promised to sell customers gold at a discount, based on the claim that the gold was purchased directly from mines in Central and South America. The CFTC seeks restitution to defrauded customers, the return of ill-gotten gains, fines, and permanent registration and trading bans.

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George Soros picks up Goldman Sachs, dumps Nvidia

George Soros’s hedge fund Soros Fund Management made a lot of changes to his portfolio in the fourth quarter, dumping positions in many companies and initiating positions in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Pandora Media Inc. . Soros decreased positions in Abbott Labs , Amazon.com Inc. , eBay Inc. , Netflix Inc. , and VMware Inc. . Soros also dumped positions in Activision Blizzard Inc. , Amgen Inc. , Barrick Gold Corp. , Coca-Cola Co. and Nvidia Corp. .

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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LendingClub shares fall 8% after wider-than-expected quarterly loss

LendingClub Corp. shares fell 8% late Tuesday after the online lending platform reported a wider-than-expected fourth-quarter loss and its operating revenue declined in the quarter. LendingClub said it lost $32.3 million, or 8 cents a share, in the quarter, versus gains of $5 million, or 1 cent a share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted for one-time items, LendingClub said it lost 2 cents a share, versus a gain of 5 cents a share a year ago. Net operating revenue was $129 million, down 4% from a year ago. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected losses of a penny a share on sales of $132 million. Loan originations dropped to $2 billion, from 2.6 billion a year ago. LendingClub predicted 2017 net sales between $565 million and $595 million, and a yearly loss between $84 million and $69 million.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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PayPal to buy Canada-based TIO Networks for $233 mln

PayPal Holdings Inc. plans to buy Canadian cloud-based payment processing firm TIO Networks Corp. for $2.56 a share in a deal valued at $233 million, PayPal said late Tuesday. The price represents a premium of 25.2% over TIO’s 90-day volume-weighted average price as of Monday. The San Jose, Calif.-based company plans to finance the purchase with cash on its balance sheets and its 2017 outlook won’t be impacted by the transaction. PayPal shares were off 0.4% after hours.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

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Gary Keller: ‘These Are Good Times’ for Real Estate

By Beth McGuire

Addresses Critical Factor in State of Housing Market

From a stalled homeownership rate to uncertainty out of the White House, the real estate industry is facing a host of challenges and opportunities informing the future of the business, and the market. One critical factor, however, according to Gary Keller, co-founder and chairman of the board of Keller Williams Realty, isn’t cause for alarm—in fact, it’s the opposite.

“These are good times,” Keller shared at the Keller Williams’ Family Reunion conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, citing rising mortgage rates. “You may not feel like they’re good times. These are really good times.”

More than 100 housing experts recently surveyed by Zillow said rising mortgage rates stand to have the most impact on housing, underscoring a general concern about their effect on housing affordability. Rates are currently hovering around 4 percent, and the Federal Reserve intends to raise the key interest rate three times over the course of 2017.

Keller pointed to historical data: the federal funds rate was 19.1 percent in January 1982, compared to 0.65 percent as of January 2017; the average mortgage rate historically is 8.3 percent, compared to the 2016 average, 3.65 percent. Those bottom-of-the-barrel figures, according to Keller, are too low—and raising rates is necessary.

“What determines affordability? Price, income and interest rates,” said Keller. “Home mortgages in the U.S. took 21.6 percent of someone’s income historically. Where are we today? Flat over the last year—but look back to 1980, 1981, 1982. Look how low it’s been.”

For more from this and other industry events, stay tuned to RISMedia.com.

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