A New Leader from China, Billionaires in Soccer, and Ray Dalio's Party

Investors breathed a slight sigh of relief this week: the labor market isn’t as strong as previously thought, and inflation isn’t as high. This means the U.S. Federal Reserve has no need to raise rates in September—which is exactly what many considered the most likely scenario. Now the mood has shifted: traders estimate the probability of a rate hike at the next meeting to be about 30%.

It’s true, however, that negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are dragging on, oil prices are rising again, and the calm seems rather fragile for now.

We are following the boom in the memory industry with great interest—for many years, this business was considered low-margin and cyclical, until the construction of data centers for AI turned it into one of the hottest segments of the technology market.

CXMT, a Chinese RAM chip manufacturer, went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange just at the end of July and has already become the country’s most valuable company, surpassing internet giant Tencent. “Chips are the new clicks,” commented one analyst. Analyst Mikhail Zavaraev examined whether this surge is justified in our “Stock Battle” column: CXMT vs. Micron.

By the way, Apple is currently testing memory from a Chinese company; due to a chip shortage in the market, Apple has been forced to raise prices on a number of its gadgets. Will this help prevent iPhone prices from rising? We looked into it here.

And in the flash memory segment , another player from China is hot on the heels of the global leaders. And it, too, is planning an IPO…

It was bound to happen eventually. Michael Burry, the stock market’s leading enfant terrible, has criticized what is arguably the most renowned investment firm—Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett himself is no longer at the helm, and his successor, Greg Abel, is “too old and definitely not Warren,” as Burry put it.

What is he unhappy about? Berkshire reported that, for the first time in a long while, it has begun to draw down the cash reserve built up by its founder: in the second quarter, it bought more shares than it sold. Burry interpreted this as follows: Abel lacks Buffett’s trademark patience. He no longer recommends buying Berkshire shares.

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square investment fund also stepped up its buying. It opened six new positions at once—making this one of the most active quarters in the company’s history. Which stocks did Ackman invest in, and why? Read on for the details.

A reminder for investors: Hedge funds must submit reports on their transactions for the previous quarter to the regulator by August 14. The “Guru Portfolios” section on the Oninvest website is a very convenient way to track the composition and changes in their portfolios.

And if you want to know how financial gurus relax—Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, celebrated his 77th birthday with a party in Ibiza. The Telegram channel Oninvest shared details about his “psychedelic adventure.” There are actually a lot of stories there that don’t make it onto the website’s feed.

What to invest in should be determined by strategy, while intuition should have the right of veto, according to entrepreneur, investor, and TMT Investments co-founder German Kaplun. In our “Investment Rules” column, he explained why he doesn’t follow the lead of major players, what you should really be wary of, and which company he would choose if he could bet on just one idea for the long term. You can find the investment rules of Andrey Movchan, Evgeny Kogan, and other influential financiers under this tag.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is buying a 30% stake in Liverpool Football Club for $1.8 billion. And he’s not going it alone: he’ll be joined by Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin—the very same guy played by Andrew Garfield in *The Social Network*—and the son-in-law of Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. What brought them together in the first place, and why are tech billionaires interested in English soccer? Find out in our new release. And yes, this business is just as addictive as “Ted Lasso.”

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor