Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q1 2019

Kevin Ludolph Quarterly Letter

April 18, 2019

Dear Investors:

    Download This Letter in PDF Form The year-to-date rally in global risk assets after the Fed flip appears to us to be a last gasp of speculative mania for the current economic cycle. In our view, three flawed narratives are driving late-cycle euphoria in financial markets today: “Central banks can always prevent a downturn in financial markets and …

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q4 2018

Kevin Ludolph Quarterly Letter

December 31, 2018

Dear Investors:

    Download This Letter in PDF Form We are happy to report estimates for Crescat’s 2018 performance: Profit Attribution by Theme Investment Outlook Summary September 20, 2018 should mark the closing high for the S&P 500 to end the second longest bull market in US history. It should also mark the top of the “everything bubble”, a term coined …

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q3 2018

Kevin Ludolph Quarterly Letter

November 16, 2018

Dear Investors:

    October was a frightening month for investors around the world. From Hong Kong to New York, stock markets were slammed by a wave of fears about slowing growth, trade wars, and higher interest rates. The Nasdaq took the brunt of the damage. Stocks like Amazon and Netflix both lost around one-fifth of their value as the Nasdaq Composite …

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q2 2018

Kevin Ludolph Quarterly Letter

September 15, 2018

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) Our three best macro ideas today are complementary plays on the unwinding of currency and financial asset bubbles at a likely peak of the global capital cycle, the most leveraged in history: Shorting US stocks at proven, historic-high valuations relative to underlying fundamentals with abundant catalysts for a near-term bear market leading to a US recession; Shorting ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q1 2018

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

May 11, 2018

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) With the Fed locked into a rate hike and quantitative tightening plan in the face of rising inflationary pressures in the US, the next several months and quarters should prove an excellent time for hedge fund short-selling strategies. Several asset bubbles already began to burst in February this year. Crescat’s hedge funds had strong absolute and relative ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q4 2017

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

January 26, 2018

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) “Believe me: We’re in a bubble right now. And the only thing that looks good is the stock market — but if you raise interest rates even a little bit, that’s going to come crashing down. We are in a big, fat, ugly bubble. And we better be awfully careful.” -Donald Trump, September 2016 Bull markets don’t ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q3 2017

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

November 18, 2017

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) US large cap stocks are the most overvalued in history, higher than prior speculative mania market peaks in 1929 and 2000. We prove it conclusively across six comprehensive dimensions: Price to Sales Price to Book Enterprise Value to Sales Enterprise Value to EBITDA Price to Earnings Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow Brutal bear markets and recessions ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q2 2017

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

August 04, 2017

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) History has proven that credit bubbles always burst. China by far is the biggest credit bubble in the world today. We lay out the proof herein. There are many indicators signaling that the bursting of the China credit bubble is imminent, which we also enumerate. The bursting of the China credit bubble poses tremendous risk of global ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q1 2017

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

May 01, 2017

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) By keeping interest rates on the world reserve currency too low for too long, the Federal Reserve has created speculative asset bubbles in far-reaching areas of the globe: Currency and credit bubbles in China Housing bubbles in Australia and Canada Worldwide gluts in industrial commodities including fossil fuels, iron ore, and steel US passive index and ETF ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q4 2016

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

January 10, 2017

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) Crescat’s hedge funds ended 2016 on a positive note after the Trump presidential victory shocked global financial markets. Our flagship Crescat Global Macro Fund was up 8.9% in November and 12.5% net from November 9th through year end. BarclayHedge named it the #4 performing macro fund for the month of November after awarding it as a top-ten ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q3 2016

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

October 03, 2016

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) Here we are again at the peak of another financial asset bubble. An important macro indicator based on the valuation of US-held global financial assets is signaling extreme caution. The chart below measures the valuation of all global financial assets (stocks, bonds, and cash) owned by US persons relative to their after-tax income. Unsustainable extremes in this ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q2 2016

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

June 30, 2016

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) The markets have been turbulent in the wake of the unexpected Brexit vote. Crescat’s hedge funds were well prepared for the shock based on our diversified global macro themes, well hedged long/short positioning, and disciplined risk model. As evidence, our Global Macro Fund posted gains on both Friday and Monday when the S&P 500 was down 3.6% ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q1 2016

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

March 16, 2016

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) We are pleased to announce that Crescat Global Macro Fund was recently named 2015 Global Macro Fund of the Year in the HedgeFund Intelligence Absolute Return Awards for its absolute and risk-adjusted performance among hedge funds less than $500 million. All three Crescat strategies posted gains through the first two months of 2016 while the S&P 500 ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q4 2015

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

December 17, 2015

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) With pockets of weakness being exposed in the financial markets, Crescat’s three strategies have delivered strong performance year to date. Through 11/30/15, our Global Macro Fund was up 15.3% net, Long/Short Fund was up 8.3% net, and Large Cap was up 3.3% net. Emerging market dislocations, including a currency devaluation in China, plunging oil and gas prices, ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q3 2015

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

August 26, 2015

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) China’s economic crisis is in full swing and Crescat has been well positioned for it. The People’s Bank of China has begun unpegging its currency this month, just as Crescat had been predicting. As we explain below, we think it is only the beginning of further yuan devaluation. Through today’s close, Crescat Global Macro Fund is up ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q2 2015

Nils Jenson Quarterly Letter

June 11, 2015

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) Performance Update  We are pleased to report that the Crescat Global Macro Fund was recently named one of the top-ten performing global macro hedge funds by BarclayHedge for the three years ended 3/31/2015. As shown in the table below, all three Crescat strategies performed strongly in Q1 while the S&P 500 Index gained just 1%. Global Macro, ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q1 2015

Crescat Capital Quarterly Letter

March 17, 2015

Dear Investors:

Download Letter (PDF) Crescat nailed the oil trade in 2014, helping our hedge funds deliver some of the best performance in the industry. Crescat Global Macro Hedge Fund was recognized by both Preqin and BarclayHedge as a top-10 performing macro hedge fund with a 25.8% net return. Crescat Long/Short Fund delivered a strong 23.2% net return, in the top 5 ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q4 2014

Crescat Capital Quarterly Letter

October 22, 2014

Dear Investors:

Ebola outbreak. China economic slowdown. Hong Kong protests. Russia/Ukraine conflict. U.S. military strikes in Iraq and Syria. Europe in recession. The Fed potentially ending QE. There is no shortage of concerns regarding the global economy. Given those headlines, it’s about time we had the proverbial healthy 10% correction in stocks, and we already have. From the highs of the third ...

Crescat Capital Quarterly Investor Letter Q3 2014

Crescat Capital Quarterly Letter

July 23, 2014

Dear Investors:

Over the long term, since each strategy's inception, Crescat has delivered strong risk-adjusted returns based on high alpha, low beta, high absolute returns, low downside deviation, and low correlation compared to market indices and other managers. Crescat has endured and prospered for its clients, producing these results cumulatively through two of the worst bear markets in history: the Tech Bubble ...

Blast From the Past: Crescat Capital Investor Letter Q4 2006

Crescat Capital Quarterly Letter

October 26, 2006

Dear Investors:

Fall 2006: Crescat lays out the macro case for the housing bust, financial crisis, and recession before it all unfolds. The housing market has played an enormous role in the US economic expansion over the last five years and we think it will play an enormous role in what will be likely a recession or a significant economic slowdown. We ...