Billionaire George Soros Lost Nearly $1 Billion in Weeks After Trump Election Hedge-fund manager’s ex-deputy, Stanley Druckenmiller, profited by bet on market rally By Gregory Zuckerman and Juliet Chung
http://www.wsj.com/articles/billionaire-george-soros-lost-nearly-1-billion-in-weeks-after-trump-election-1484227167
Billionaire hedge-fund manager George Soros lost nearly $1 billion as a result of the stock-market rally spurred by Donald Trump’s surprise presidential election.
But Stanley Druckenmiller, Mr. Soros’s former deputy who helped Mr. Soros score $1 billion of profits betting against the British pound in 1992, anticipated the market’s recent climb and racked up sizable gains, according to people close to the matter.
The two traders’ divergent bets are a stark reminder of the challenges even acclaimed investors have faced following Mr. Trump’s unexpected victory. Many experts had predicted a tumble for stocks in the wake of the election, but instead the Dow Jones Industrial Average has climbed about 9% since Election Day.
Stocks have fallen broadly in the past couple of sessions, hurt in part by a reversal for smaller companies and the financial industry. A decline in both sectors helped push the Dow industrials down more than 150 points in the past two sessions.
For the past couple of years, hedge funds and other professional investors have complained that placid conditions made it difficult to generate trading profits. Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP and Moore Capital Management, both multibillion-dollar hedge-fund firms, are among those that managed to turn a losing year into a winning one after the election, according to people familiar with them.
Last year, Mr. Soros returned to trading at Soros Fund Management LLC, which manages about $30 billion for Mr. Soros and his family. Mr. Soros was lured back by perceived opportunities to profit from economic troubles he was anticipating in China, within the European Union and elsewhere, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Soros was cautious about the market going into November and became more bearish immediately after Mr. Trump’s election, according to people close to the matter. Mr. Trump has raised the possibility of tariffs on Chinese imports and other steps that could upend global trade, which had some money managers forecasting a move lower in stocks.
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