World Street: WeWork founder’s payday, Black Swan fund boss’s warning, US realty loans, JP Morgan warns on Bitcoin rally

World Street

Beijing Bubble
China's securities watchdog is asking brokerages to restrict leverage available to hedge funds that borrow large sums of money via a complex derivative business to trade stocks. Through leveraged trades, hedge funds can borrow up to $4 against every $1 they deposit with the broker, while also skirting regulatory borrowing limits by having such trades sit on brokers' books.

Canary in the Coal Mine?
Delinquent commercial real estate loans at US banks have hit their highest level in a decade amid elevated interest rates and an uncertain economy, reports FT. The volume of past-due loans in which occupiers have missed more than one payment jumped 30 per cent, or $4 billion, to $17.7 billion in the three months to September. The figure had risen by $10 billion in a year.

Disaster coming
Mark Spitznagel is the founder and chief of Universa Investments, a "Black Swan" fund has sounded a warning on the biggest debt bubble in history, and warned the Federal Reserve's efforts to shore up markets and stave off recessions have paved the way for a far worse disaster in the future. He dismissed Treasuries as a haven asset, and cautioned investors that diversifying their portfolios can do more harm than good.

Keep the change
Bankrupt shared office space player WeWork may have to forgo a $430 million dollar loan to its founder Adam Neumann, reports WSJ. The loan was given against Neumann’s stock in WeWork as collateral. With the shares near worthless, Neumann may choose to let go of the shares, and walk away with the money he was lent.

Bears to the party
Renewable energy stocks are hurting from high interest rates as clean energy projects require developers to borrow lots of capital up front to build them. After Israel-based SolarEdge Technologies issued a weak guidance and Tesla earnings missed analyst estimates, short sellers are now smelling blood in the water, and going after stocks of dozens of solar and electric vehicle companies.

Courting Controversy
One of the more unsavoury aspects of climate change protests is the shock-and-awe tactics employed by some parties. It was only a matter of time before some pushback came. Shell is suing Greenpeace for $ 2.1 million in damages after the environmental group's activists boarded the company's oil production vessel in January near the Canary Islands to protest oil drilling and travelled on it as far as Norway.

Iron ore
The iron ore market is looking at a shortfall for the rest of the year due to low inventories and falling production, according to Goldman Sachs. The analysts noted that the magnitude of Beijing’s recent fiscal spending could be a positive sign of domestic growth sentiment, which is often associated with a healthier construction industry and in turn, a higher demand for iron ore.

Crypto warning
While cryptocurrency traders are rejoicing at the sight of bullish price spikes, analysts at JPMorgan have warned that the “crypto rally looks overdone,” and traders would be wise to take profits and prepare for a correction in bitcoin prices. They said that even if spot BTC ETF in the US got SEC approval, approval in it is unlikely to bring in a new wave of capital into the crypto market.

Weak debut
Uranium explorer and developer Neo Energy Metals fell around 18 percent on debut on the London Stock Exchange. The stock got hammered despite uranium is now trading at its highest in more than a decade after scaling $70 a pound in October.