Soros-Backed Waypoint Wins $550 Million Helicopter Debt

Waypoint Leasing, a specialist in helicopter deals whose backers include Soros Fund Management LLC, reached an agreement for borrowing capacity of as much as $550 million to secure $1 billion in assets by the end of 2014.

Waypoint has transactions lined up to bring its fleet under management to 21 helicopters exceeding $300 million in value by the end of this year, Chief Executive Officer Ed Washecka said. The models, acquired largely through sale-leaseback agreements, include aircraft from Eurocopter SAS, Finmeccanica SpA (FNC)’s AgustaWestland unit and United Technologies Corp. (UTX)’s Sikorsky.

Waypoint raised $375 million in equity this year from MSD Capital, Cartesian Capital Group and Soros to help build up its Limerick, Ireland-based helicopter leasing arm and tap demand for models used in the oil and gas industry. The debt facility includes a five-year, $335 million revolving credit line that can be expanded to $550 million, the company said in a statement.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-13/soros-backed-waypoint-wins-550-million-helicopter-debt.html

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Soros Takes a Stake in Microsoft

Soros Fund Management LLC purchased a significant new stake in Microsoft Corp.MSFT -0.35% in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, as the technology giant continues to search for a new chief executive amid a series of broad company changes.

The hedge fund, founded by billionaire investor George Soros, held firm its stake in nutrition company Herbalife Ltd.HLF +1.86%, but lowered its stakes in J.C. Penney Co.JCP +0.23% and Google Inc.GOOG +0.27% The fund raised its stake in Chevron Corp.CVX +0.39% and purchased a new stake of 1.6 million shares in FedEx Corp.FDX +0.85%

Mr. Soros’s apparent push into Microsoft comes on the heels of CEO Steve Ballmer announcing his sudden retirement in late August from the firm where he had worked for more than three decades. Mr. Ballmer and company founder Bill Gates had built Microsoft into a technology giant, but the company has found its overall influence weakened by rivals such as AppleAAPL +1.45% and Google. As of Sept. 30, Mr. Soros owned 12.6 million shares of Microsoft.

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Jim Rogers : Nobody ever Wins a Trade War or a Currency War

Well, the first thing you need to know is that nobody ever wins a trade war, a currency war, which is just another kind of trade war. Everybody loses in the end , some may temporarily come out ahead but it’s temporary if nothing else. As you have pointed out, the cost of living of many people is going up, and it certainly is, my gosh, in Japan you have a currency that’s down 25% in a year. Well I assure you the Japanese are feeling that because everything that Japan imports has gone up fairly substantially AND even the things that they don’t import are up because the Japanese manufacturers and the Japanese producers can raise prices because they don’t have to worry about
competing with the foreigners any more.“We’ve got to stop this, this is going to be bad.”
So we’re all losing in currency wars. How long can it go on? Well, it can go on as long as politicians can continue to print money. The problem is, of course, eventually the markets will just say, “We’re not going to play this game anymore” and we’ll have a serious collapse. You and I can print money all day long, but at some point, you, I and everybody else is going to say, “Wait a minute, guys, this money is getting worse and worse and more and more worthless, so why don’t we stop playing this game?” I wish the politicians were smart enough at some point to say, “We’ve got to stop this, this is going to be bad.”
But unfortunately they never have, and probably never will. Mr. Bernanke is certainly not going to stop it, because he doesn’t want to go down in history as causing the collapse. Mrs. Yellen, when she comes in, she’s not going to stop it, first of all she doesn’t believe in stopping it, she thinks printing money is good. And she knows – I hope she’s smart enough to know – that if she stops, oh my gosh, it’s going to collapse. So she’s not going to stop. Nobody wants to go down as causing the collapse of the world. So I’m afraid this is going to go on until the market eventually says to them, “Okay, enough is enough,” we have a big collapse and then they’re all thrown out and we can start over.

“Eventually they will try to cut [QE], it will finally cause the collapse, at that point we will have a big change, because they will throw them out, whether it’s the politicians or the central bankers or whoever.”

Source :http://www.mining.com/jim-rogers-in-depth-on-currency-qe-and-precious-metals-50649/

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Jim Rogers :Vulnerable Countries Indonesia, Turkey & India

The ones that are most vulnerable are the ones that have to borrow money in order to finance their balance of trade deficits. Indonesia is an example which comes to mind here in Asia. India has got the same problem, Turkey has the problem. Anyone who is using borrowed money to finance trade deficits are the ones that are going to get hit first.





Source : http://silveristhenew.com/2013/11/14/vulnerable-countries-indonesia-turkey-india/

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Dennis "The Commodities King" vs. Peter "Dr. Doom" Schiff

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Peter Schiff : Bitcoin Is Not Gold

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Buffett gets a boost with DISH

DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH). The stock rose +4.91 to $49.77 after presenting a great Q3 performance. Billionaire Julian Robertson holds purchased 443,000 shares (2.39% of his fund), acquired for $39.38 each last quarter. Another important investor with a position in DISH is Warren Buffett, who holds 547,000 shares, also acquired during last quarter for $39.38. The position represents 0.03% in Buffett’s portfolio.

Sources: http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/11/buffett-wins-dish-soros-loses-rackspace-thm/

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Soros Loses on Rackspace and THM

Today’s midday gainers are InterOil Corporation (NYSE:IOC), Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE:WNR), DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) and midday losers are Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT), Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX), International Tower Hill Mines Ltd (NYSEMKT:THM).

The stock with a major gain today is InterOil Corporation (NYSE:IOC). The energy company surged +21.44% ($81.42) after reporting solid Q3 earnings. Billionaire John Paulson holds 1.7 million IOC shares, representing 0.85% of his fund. The shareholder paid an average price of $66.64 per asset.

The second company with a great performance today is Western Refining, Inc. (NYSE:WNR). The petroleum firm is up +9.76% and now trading at $36.33 after an upgrade to a “buy” rating by Goldman Sachs. Last quarter, George Soros bought 310,000 shares (0.09% of his portfolio) for $30.87 each.

Sources: http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/11/buffett-wins-dish-soros-loses-rackspace-thm/

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Marc Faber : World dangerously awash in credit

 If we take total credit as a percentage of the economies of  the most advanced economies then total credit as a percent of the economies is now thirty percent higher than in 2007 when the last crisis occurred and say in China credit as a percent of the economy has been growing over the last four and half years by fifty percent  , this is unprecedented it is a gigantic credit bubble 

Source: http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/11/13/More-global-credit-now-then-before-the-financial-crisis-Faber.aspx

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Jim Rogers: Change is Coming, so know to think against the crowd, the crowd is nearly always wrong

-“…if everybody says the sky is blue, I at least urge you to go and look out the window and see if it’s blue because I have found that most people won’t even bother to look out the window…”

-“…no matter what we all know today, it’s not going to be true in 10 or 15 years…”

-“Eventually the markets will just say, ‘We’re not going to play this game anymore’, and we’ll have a serious collapse.”

-“We’ve got to stop this, this is going to be bad."

-“Eventually they will try to cut [QE], it will finally cause the collapse, at that point we will have a big change, because they will throw them out, whether it’s the politicians or the central bankers or whoever.”

-“I’ve owned gold for many years, I’ve never sold any gold and I can’t imagine I ever will sell gold in my life because it is somewhat of an insurance policy.”

-“Everybody should own some precious metals as an insurance policy. So if they don’t have any right now, I would urge them to go buy something.”

Source : http://www.birchgold.com/jim-rogers-interview-qe-currency-gold-inflation/

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Peter Schiff On The Keiser Report

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Jim Rogers : This is Absolute Insanity , we are all going to pay the price for this madness

"It's not just the Fed, it's central banking. This is the first time in recorded history that all major central banks are printing a lot of money trying to debase their currencies. The world's floating around on a huge artificial sea of liquidity."


"it's going to dry up. And when it dries up, we're all going to pay the price for this madness. 

Source: http://www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/Rogers-Fed-absolute-insanity/2013/11/11/id/536050

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George Soros Gets a Boost with ViroPharma Buy, Takes a Hit with Denbury

Today’s top gainer is biotechnology company ViroPharma Inc (NASDAQ:VPHM). The stock surprisingly shot up +25.50% to $49.42. According to Bloomberg, this is the result of health company Shire Plc (NYSE:SHP) reaching an agreement to buy ViroPharma for $4.2 billion. Billionaire George Soros acquired 50,000 shares (0.02% of his fund) for $26.29 each last quarter.

Read More: http://www.valuewalk.com/2013/11/soros-gets-boost-viropharma-buy-takes-hit-denbury/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=soros-gets-boost-viropharma-buy-takes-hit-denbury

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Marc Faber: China could spark bigger crisis than 2008.

• An alarming credit boom in China could trigger a crisis that would make 2008 look mild in comparison
• China, in particular, has seen credit as a percentage of the economy jump 50% in the last four and a half years
• China has the “fastest credit growth you can image in the whole of Asia.”
• Faber warns that China isn’t the only problem area. Other Asian countries are also seeing big jumps in household debt.

Source: http://www.fxstreet.com/news/fxbeat/article.aspx?storyid=4ca31eb9-7e75-4f56-96f0-193f52776347

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Soros and Icahn Close Out the Week On Top

Today’s top gainer is Magnum Hunter Resources Corporation (NYSE:MHR). The energy company shot up +11.17% ($7.12) after presenting a better-than-expected Q3 earnings report. Billionaire George Soros acquired 250,000 shares for $3.27 last quarter. This position represents 0.01% of Soros’ portfolio.

The second company in our daily gainers list is The Gap, Inc. (NYSE:GPS). The clothing firm rose +8.68 to $41.03 on the heels of a report of solid Q3 earnings. Edward Lampert holds 10.3 million shares, which represent 14.47% of his fund, purchased at $19.49. Ray Dalio owns 82,000 shares (0.03% of his fund). The shareholder paid $33.56 per asset.

Last but not least is Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NASDAQ:IEP). The financial stock is up +8.69%, now trading at $119.85. Billionaire Carl Icahn holds 99.2 million shares, representing 33.56% of his fund. Each asset cost him $64.57.

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Jim Rogers: Central banks are making a terrible mistake

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Peter Schiff: Janet Yellen's Mission Impossible

Most market watchers expect that Janet Yellen will grapple with two major tasks once she takes the helm at the Federal Reserve in 2014: deciding on the appropriate timing and intensity of the Fed's quantitative easing taper strategy, and unwinding the Fed's enormous $4 trillion balance sheet (without creating huge losses in the value of its portfolio). In reality both assignments are far more difficult than just about anyone understands or admits.

Unlike just about every other economist, I knew that the Fed would not taper in September because the economy is still fundamentally addicted to stimulus. The signs of recovery that have caused investors and politicians to bubble with enthusiasm are just QE in disguise. Take away the QE and the economy would likely tilt back into an even more severe recession than the one we experienced before QE1 was launched

Given the Fed's failure to initiate a tapering campaign in recent months (when it was highly expected) it is surprising that most people still believe that it will pull the trigger in the first quarter of 2014. But if the Fed could not take action in September, with Ben Bernanke at the helm and the nation as yet untraumatized by the debt ceiling drama and Obamacare, why should we expect tougher treatment from Janet Yellen? This is particularly true when you consider Yellen's reputation as an extreme dove and the uninspiring economic data that has come in recent months. 

Rather than explicitly describing the possibility of a reduction of asset purchases, recent Fed statements have merely said that policy would be "adjusted" according to incoming data. It has never said what direction that adjustment may take. Yet somehow the market has concluded that an imminent reduction is the only possibility. But the opposite conclusion is more likely. Recession avoidance is really the Fed's only concern and it will always come down on the side of accommodation. Therefore an expectation for a 2014 taper is just wishful thinking.

But that does not mean that QE will go on forever. It will come to an end, but not because the Fed wants it to, but because the currency markets give it no choice. A dollar crisis would ultimately force the Fed's hand, and the longer the Fed succeeds in postponing the inevitable, the more damage its policy mistakes will inflict on our economy.

Yellen's second task will be equally impossible. Since the QE campaign began in 2010 the Fed has more than quadrupled the amount of bonds that it holds on its balance sheet,to more than $4 trillion of Treasury and mortgage-backed bonds. To accumulate this massive cache, the Fed has become by far the largest buyer in both markets. Its purchases have pushed up the prices of those bonds and have kept long term interest rates low for both consumers and businesses.

When the QE was first launched, Ben Bernanke tamped down fears of the program by saying the Fed would one day sell the bonds that it was buying. But as the Fed's balance sheet ballooned, many in the market began fearing that the unwinding of these trades would crush the market for Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. Bernanke soon allayed these fears by saying that the Fed would not actively sell, but would simply allow bonds to mature. But this is just a convenient fiction.

If stock or real estate prices were to enter into bubble territory (which I believe has already happened), or if inflation were ever to surge past the Fed's low target range (which I believe is certain to happen), then the Fed would have to sell bonds to get in front of these trends.

Through Operation Twist, the Fed has already swapped a very large portion of its short-term bonds for long-term bonds. The slow process of waiting for bonds to mature is unlikely to slow down asset bubbles or inflation. The argument also does not account for the fact that the Treasury will have to sell new bonds in order to retire the principle on the maturing bonds. Since the Fed is the primary buyer of Treasury bonds, the Fed would have to add to its balance sheet when it's trying to shrink it. Such a cycle is just a debt rollover that leaves the size of the Fed's balance sheet unchanged.

Unless other buyers of Treasuries or MBS can be found to replace the Fed's prodigious buying, the Fed will remain the only game in town. Given these realities, how can we possibly expect Janet Yellen to actually diminish the amount of assets the Fed holds? She won't be able to do it and any expectations to the contrary are pure fantasy.

So we should not be asking when Ms. Yellen will begin withdrawing stimulus and shrinking the Fed's balance sheet. Instead we should be asking how the markets will react when she runs out of excuses for delaying the taper, or ultimately decides to expand QE rather than contract it.

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The Peter Schiff Show Thursday 11/07/2013

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Marc Faber: I Prefer Buying Physical Gold

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Jim Rogers: There`s Another Slowdown Coming

We are going to have a global financial collapse because of these guys. In the U.S. we have had economic slowdowns every 4 to 6 years since the beginning of the republic.

In 2001-2002 we had a problem and then we got over it, the government printed a lot of money. By 2007-2008 and 2009 we had our next one, which is the way it always works. It was worse because the debt was so, so, so much higher.

Now you wait till the next one. There is a next one coming despite what they keep telling us. And when the next one comes, the debt is going up by staggering amounts, not just in the U.S. but worldwide. So when the next one comes it will be even worse. Let`s hope the world survives that one.

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Yellen: No Clue About The Real World

Jim Rogers: She sounds like our problems, if you ask me. We had enough of these Ivy League professors who have no clue about the real world and think that money printing is the answer to everything. I think she is part of the problem, certainly not the solution.

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