The superrich blueprint to navigating this hairy stock market: Tap the brakes and get ready to pounce when it all goes to hell.
And by the looks of Monday’s action, hell might not be too far away.
In the first quarter, Tiger 21, a coalition of 750 members worth in excess of $75 billion, raised cash to levels not seen since 2013. Not much changed in the second quarter in terms of keeping powder dry. The group’s holding 12% in cash.
What has changed, however, is that these deep-pocketed investors, in the call of the day, are continuing to move away from equities and build up their positions in real estate. As Tiger 21 President Michael Sonnenfeldt previously told MarketWatch, the stock market is “‘priced to perfection’ and rising economic inequality leading to greater polarization in America and elsewhere.”
Here’s the latest allocation:
Real estate is still king, with a bump of 2 percentage points since the prior quarter. These investors are now nibbling at commodities — up from zero to 1% — while moving away from public and private equities, as well as hedge funds.
Right now, a cautious footing is looking like a wise choice.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.75% , S&P 500 SPX, -2.72% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, -3.28% are all getting hammered Monday, extending last week’s losses. Europe stocks SXXP, -2.31% were also hit hard, while Asia ADOW, +0.00% finished with losses, as well. China’s yuan CNYUSD, -1.5671% tripped below the politically sensitive level of seven to the U.S. dollar DXY, -0.61% , following President Trump’s latest threat of tariff hikes on Chinese goods.
Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. Be sure to check the Need to Know item. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.
Follow MarketWatch on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook.
The buzz
The country, of course, is still reeling from the back-to-back mass shootings that killed 29 people. President Trump spent the first hours after the tragedies his New Jersey golf course, where he sent out tweets of support mixed with those promoting a celebrity fight. “Hate has no place in our country, and we’re going to take care of it,” Trump said Sunday before boarding Air Force One.
Read: Sen. Elizabeth Warren slams Fox as ‘hate-for-profit’ machine in wake of mass shootings
The quote
“Cloudflare’s mission is to help build a better Internet. At some level firing 8chan as a customer is easy. They are uniquely lawless and that lawlessness has contributed to multiple horrific tragedies. Enough is enough” — Cloudflare Chief Executive Matthew Prince, in a blog post reacting to the racist anti-immigrant manifesto the El Paso gunman posted on 8chan shortly before his attack.
The tweet
The chart
Money is pouring into Saudi stocks these days after the country’s equity market was included in benchmark indexes that guide trillions of dollars in global assets — look no further than this chart from the Financial Times for some perspective:
EPFR Global data shows that the mutual funds and ETFs that invest in Riyadh’s exchange began the year at $356 million in assets and have exploded to $4.8 billion. Active managers have had to buy into these stocks to keep pace with the indices they’re now ranked against, the FT reported.
The economy
The dog days of summer have arrived in terms of economic data, with a light schedule on tap for the upcoming stretch. That being said, we’ve got the ISM nonmanufacturing index hitting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern this morning followed by the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey due out on Tuesday. The Producer Price Index for July rounds out the mostly quiet week on Friday.
Random reads
Are you rich? Take this New York Times quiz and find out.
A French investor achieved his goal of riding a hoverboard across the English Channel. It took 20 minutes. “Whether this is a historic event or not, I’m not the one to decide that, time will tell,” he said.
Speaking of French, why do they always say no?
Here’s what you need to know about the Apple AAPL, -4.86% credit card.