fortune gems

fortune gems By Lawrence Delevingne and Carolina Mandl BOSTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -As a money manager, Scott Bessent's years of inconsistent performance have contributed to a nearly 90% decline in his hedge fund's assets. Now, with other business lines expanding, he has scored on perhaps his biggest bet yet: President-elect Donald Trump. Bessent spotted what he called an anomaly in the market: that political and market analysts were too negative on what a Trump victory would mean, according to a letter to clients in January seen by Reuters. His Key Square Capital Management put on bets that U.S. stocks and the dollar would gain, helping earn a double-digit percentage profit so far in 2024, with November as its best month, according to a person familiar with the situation. Bessent's even bigger wager and apparently win is on Trump, the future president. He's been a donor, economic adviser and booster on TV to Trump. On Friday night, news broke that Bessent was Trump's pick to be Treasury Secretary. "Scott is widely respected as one of the World’s foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists," Trump wrote on Truth Social. A representative for Bessent did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the nomination. Trump has talked Bessent up as “one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street." While parts of Bessent's business have expanded, such as advising other family offices and money managers, details of his fund's performance, reported here for the first time, show a mixed track record in the decade since he launched his own hedge fund firm. Ted Seides, the former president of Protege Partners, an investment firm where Bessent earned strong returns in the late 2000s, told Reuters that Bessent's track record should be taken in the context of macro investing, where big profits can be followed by less attractive returns. So-called macro hedge funds bet on global macroeconomic trends and are not open to retail investors. "If you only look at the part of a track record with lean years, it’s like saying Aaron Judge struck out a lot last year," Seides said, referring the baseball star known for hitting home runs. "But he was just named MVP." Bessent has long been considered a top contender to run Treasury and his candidacy in the hotly-contested role has heightened interest in the fund manager. If he were to take a job in the new administration, Key Square could be wound down, sold, or put in "sleep mode," according to the same person. BIG START Bessent, who grew up in a small town in South Carolina and went to Yale College before landing on Wall Street, started Key Square in late 2015. The firm quickly raised $4.5 billion - then one of the largest hedge fund launches in history. That included $2 billion from famed macroeconomic investor George Soros, for whom Bessent had helped earn billions of dollars over two stints at Soros Fund Management. Key Square's main fund returns surged 13% in its first year, 2016, according to a second person familiar with the firm. That year, it gained on correctly predicting the British pound's decline around "Brexit," a vote for Britain to leave the European Union, according to the first person familiar with the situation. Later, Key Square made money when Bessent correctly anticipated a U.S. stock and dollar rally when Donald Trump was elected that November, according to the first person. But Key Square lost 7% in 2017, and then lost money or just broke even from 2018 to 2021, according to the second person and performance disclosures from one of its investors, New York City Police Pension Fund. The hedge fund gained double digits in both 2023 and 2024 and is up "double digits" over its history, according to the second person. That uneven performance appears to have scared away some clients. Assets under management shrank from a peak of around $5.1 billion at the end of 2017 to $577 million as of December 2023, while the number of institutional investors fell from 180 in December 2017 to 20 by the end of 2023, according to regulatory disclosures tracked by Convergence Inc. While Key Square's hedge fund assets have declined, it has other business lines that have expanded, including providing investment ideas to other money managers, with up to $1 billion to draw from and invest for a large macro investment firm; an advisory business for family offices, foundations and endowments, including one client with $11 billion in assets; and fees from a spin-out firm, $3.4 billion Ghisallo Capital, part of Key Square's incubation business, according to the two people familiar with the firm and regulatory filings. It also has plans to launch an ETF, according to a recent securities filing. Soros took back most of his capital in 2018, per a previous agreement with Bessent to return the money, according to a third source familiar with the matter. Soros no longer has any money managed by Bessent, according to the third person. The two men have not spoken since 2016, Bessent said in a recent interview with Trump ally Roger Stone. Other large clients who no longer have money with Key Square include Australia's Future Fund, Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners, and the New York City Police and Fire pension funds, according to public records and regulatory disclosures. One large hedge fund allocator told Reuters that they pulled their money several years ago from Key Square because the returns had been “too inconsistent.” Another large Key Square investor withdrew from the hedge fund last year because of Bessent’s support of Trump, according to the second person familiar with the firm. The University of California redeemed its assets from Key Square amid a broader pull back from using hedge funds, but Bessent has remained "deep source of knowledge for us," chief investment officer, Jagdeep Singh Bachher, told Reuters via email. Another longtime client to stick with Key Square is Brevan Howard Asset Management, the $34 billion macro hedge fund manager co-founded by British billionaire Alan Howard. "Scott is one of the best macro investors in the world," a spokesperson for Brevan Howard said via email. "His understanding of markets, public policy, and the global economy is largely unmatched." Semafor previously reported that selective Key Square performance numbers were being shared around Wall Street chats as Bessent competed for the coveted post of U.S. Treasury Secretary. The report did not reveal the numbers shared. POLITICAL BET Bessent contributed to Trump’s inauguration following his 2016 election win. He was more involved during the 2024 election cycle, serving as an economic adviser to the campaign in addition to being a top fundraiser. Since the election, he has made TV appearances and written opinion pieces in support of Trump's proposed economic agenda. “I was all in for President Trump. I was one of the few Wall Street people backing him,” Bessent recent said in the interview with Stone. In January this year, Bessent predicted a “Trump Rally” in stocks as long as the Republican remained ahead in the election polls. “We are expecting an upward trajectory in the U.S. equity markets,” he wrote in the letter to Key Square clients. “Barring (President Joe) Biden pulling ahead in substantial fashion, all pullbacks should be bought.” (Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne in Boston and Carolina Mandl in New York; editing by Paritosh Bansal, Megan Davies, Deepa Babington and Diane Craft)

AP Sports SummaryBrief at 5:38 p.m. ESTRepublican Gov. Brad Little looks to the gallery as he gives the annual State of the State address on Jan. 9, 2023, at the state Capitol building in Boise. BOISE — Idaho Gov. Brad Little joined 25 other Republican governors in signing a public statement supporting President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration and deportation policies, Little announced late Wednesday. Trump has promised to take executive actions to increase immigration enforcement beginning on his first day in office as part of his pledge to deport a record number of undocumented immigrants who are in the United States. Such actions include giving federal immigration officers the ability to arrest people with no criminal records, increasing American troops at the U.S. border with Mexico and resuming building the border wall, Reuters reported. Trump migrant deportations could threaten states’ agricultural economies In this week’s public statement, Little and the other Republican governors said they are “fully committed to supporting the Trump administration’s efforts to deport dangerous criminals.” “As Republican governors, we stand united in support of President Donald Trump’s unwavering commitment to make America safe again by addressing the illegal immigration crisis and deporting illegal immigrants who pose a threat to our communities and national security,” the statement read, according to a copy provided by Little’s office. “We are proud to welcome President Trump back to the White House, a leader who has consistently put America first,” the statement continued. “His leadership is exactly what our nation needs to restore law and order at the border, and we are eager to work alongside his Administration to tackle the critical challenges facing our nation.” President-elect Donald Trump walks the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday with NYSE President Lynn Martin, center; Melania Trump, right, and trader Peter Giacchi, left. GOP governors ‘stand ready’ to use state law enforcement, National Guard to support Trump’s deportation plans Little’s communications director, Emily Callihan, told the Idaho Capital Sun on Thursday that the statement is a written statement that was issued to the public and the news media, not a signed letter to Trump. “Republican governors remain fully committed to supporting the Trump administration’s efforts to deport dangerous criminals, gang members, and terrorists who are in this country illegally,” the statement continued. “We understand the direct threat these criminal illegal immigrants pose to public safety and our national security, and we will do everything in our power to assist in removing them from our communities.” “Together, we will continue to defend the American people, uphold the rule of law, and ensure our nation remains safe and secure for future generations,” the statement continued. “We stand ready to utilize every tool at our disposal — whether through state law enforcement or the National Guard — to support President Trump in this vital mission.” “The time for action is now,” the statement concluded. “Together, we will make America safe again.” According to a written statement issued by Idaho Gov. Brad Little, the governors signing the statement include the following: Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com . Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.

Prosecutors have suggested to a New York judge the possibility of sparing Donald Trump any prison time for his conviction on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star in light of his US presidential election victory, but opposed dismissing the case. In a court filing made public on Tuesday, prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office urged Justice Juan Merchan to deny the Republican businessman-turned-politicians' request to throw out the case so it does not hang over him and impede his ability to govern once he takes office on January 20. Noting that many of Trump's concerns involve the possibility that he could be incarcerated, prosecutors noted that there is no requirement that Merchan sentence him to prison - and said the judge could conclude that presidential immunity from prosecution would require a non-incarceration sentence. "Such a constitutional limitation on the range of available sentences would further diminish any impact on defendant's presidential decision-making without going so far as to discard the indictment and jury verdict altogether," prosecutors wrote. Merchan has not said when he will rule on Trump's bid for dismissal. Trump has called the case an attempt by Bragg, a Democrat, to harm his 2024 campaign. In a statement on Tuesday, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said, "Today's filing by the Manhattan DA is a pathetic attempt to salvage the remains of an unconstitutional and politically motivated hoax." The case stemmed from a $US130,000 ($A204,000) payment that Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for her silence before the 2016 election about a sexual encounter she has said she had a decade earlier with Trump, who denies it. A Manhattan jury in May found Trump, 78, guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up his reimbursement of Cohen. It was the first time a US president - former or sitting - had been convicted of or charged with a criminal offence. Falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years in prison, but incarceration is not required. Before his Nov. 5 election victory, legal experts told Reuters it was unlikely that Trump would be sentenced to prison due to his lack of a criminal history and advanced age, but that incarceration was not impossible. The US Supreme Court in July ruled in a separate criminal case involving Trump that presidents have broad immunity from criminal prosecution for official actions taken in office, and that evidence of official acts could not be used in prosecuting a president over personal acts. Trump's lawyers have argued that meant the case should be dismissed because prosecutors used statements that Trump made while president and testimony from his White House aides. The filing by Bragg's office on Tuesday said the hush money case involved "purely unofficial conduct."5th National Sports Festival: ISR U-21 Athletics awarding ceremony heldOutgoing Senate GOP Leader McConnell Has A Fall In Latest Health Episode

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