Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : All Clowns Must Be Destroyed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (30074)	4/28/2000 12:53:00 PM
From: Grandk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42523

ragingbull.com

To: pater tenebrarum who wrote (30074)	4/28/2000 1:01:00 PM
From: Cynic 2005	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42523

Has the game changed? Or, is Soros simply lying? -------------------- ``Mahathir will be depressed because he won't have anyone to blame,'' Soros said. (Cracked me up) ``I screwed up. I should have got out (of the Nasdaq index) in February,'' Druckenmiller said. ``This business is a bit like a drug. When you are doing well, it's hard to quit,'' Druckenmiller said, noting he wanted to leave last year when the fund was still performing well. (Sure, a lot of bulls are smarter than Drunkenmiller or Soros. -g-) ----------------- hoovershbn.hoovers.com -------- Soros Retools Funds, Shuns Risk Reuters Online News - April 28, 2000 08:46 By Apu Sikri NEW YORK (Reuters) - Unveiling a shake-up of the world's largest hedge fund after a 20 percent drop this year, U.S. financier George Soros said on Friday his days of wagering billions in speculative bets on global markets were over. ``We are bringing an epoch to an end,'' said Soros, who has gained fame for huge and risky bets that have often pitted his firm against major industrialized and developing nations. ``The days of our large macro bets are over,'' he told reporters. Announcing a massive overhaul of his flagship $8.5 billion Quantum Fund, to be relaunched as the Quantum Endowment Fund, Soros said that he planned to ``manage my money differently,'' taking fewer risky and speculative positions. ``It is my desire to reduce equity market exposure due to high valuations and high volatility, Soros said. He added that losses also stemmed from a wrong-way bet on the euro, the single European currency, which has fallen nearly 25 percent against the dollar since its introduction in January 1999. Stanley Druckenmiller, who will resign as Quantum's chief strategist after the fund's assets shrank by more than $2 billion in the past four months, said he had not expected such sharp and rapid losses. ``I screwed up. I should have got out (of the Nasdaq index) in February,'' Druckenmiller said. Quantum has lost 21.69 percent in value this year and its assets have shriveled from $10.36 billion at the end of 1999 to $8.25 billion in mid-April. The Nasdaq composite index is down around 25 percent from its all-time peak of 5,048.62 hit on March 10. Soros, a Hungarian-born multi-billionaire, said that Quantum had enough liquidity to meet any investor redemptions. Quantum had scored big in 1999, ending up 35 percent for the year after switching into high-technology stocks late in the year. But once-high flying tech shares have been buffeted by extreme volatility and major indices have suffered severe declines which gained speed over the past month. ``This business is a bit like a drug. When you are doing well, it's hard to quit,'' Druckenmiller said, noting he wanted to leave last year when the fund was still performing well. Soros, nicknamed ``the man who broke the pound'' after making a successful $10 billion bet against sterling, precipitating the currency's exit from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, has not seen all his big financial bets succeed in recent years. He failed to call the 1987 global stock market crash and in 1994 lost substantial sums of money on short-yen positions, with Quantum reportedly losing $600 million in a single day in February 1994. He was also the target of vitriol from critics such as Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad, who blamed Soros 'funds for bringing about the Asian financial crisis in 1997-1998. ``Mahathir will be depressed because he won't have anyone to blame,'' Soros said. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------