One of George Soros' funds, the flagship Quantum Endowment Fund, is holding 75% cash right now.
After being down 6% YTD, the fund's main portfolio manager, Keith Anderson, decided to cut its losses.
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"In mid-June, Anderson told his portfolio managers to pull back on trades," Bloomberg reported. "As a result, the fund is about 75 percent in cash as it waits for better opportunities."
While it's not an incredibly unusual move, it is certainly not commonplace, and it has piqued our interest in Anderson.
In May as Soros began selling his famed gold holdings, "people familiar with Mr. Anderson’s thinking said he believes the Federal Reserve’s continuing to pump money into the system has reduced the likelihood of deflation."
Anderson is the Chief Investment Officer at Soros Fund Management, managing the firm's "14 internal managers and more than a dozen external managers," according to the New York Times.
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Before he joined the hedge fund, Anderson had spent 20 years with BlackRock, which he co-founded in 1988, as an advisor and managing director and CIO of fixed income, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
He started his career at First Boston, where he worked for a year in the fixed income research department. Later he was portfolio manager at Criterion Investment Management. He earned his undergraduate degree in Economics and Finance from Nichols College, and earned an MBA from Rice University, where is currently on the Board of Trustees.
When his departure from BlackRock first broke, it was reported Anderson was about to start his own fund. He joined Soros in July 2008, replacing Soros' son, Robert.
One thing we can assume is that Anderson is one hedge funder thinking constantly about the debt ceiling crisis: he was the former chairman of the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, a group that meets quarterly with the Treasurer to advise on the financing and management of the federal debt, and is still on the board.
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He's also a member of the Investment Advisory Committee at the New York Fed.
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