Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, has placed a $6.7 billion U.S. bet
against European stocks.
Using Bridgewater’s public disclosures, data firm Breakout Point calculated that the
Connecticut-based hedge fund has bet against 21 European companies so far this week, in
sectors ranging from finance to energy.
Bridgewater’s biggest short bets are against semiconductor-equipment supplier ASML Holding
(ASML), energy company TotalEnergies (TTE) and drugmaker Sanofi (SNY). The bets show
that the hedge fund is increasingly pessimistic about the outlook for European companies.
Breakout Point noted that the hedge fund run by billionaire Ray Dalio had placed similar bets
against European publicly traded companies in 2018 and 2020.
Bridgewater, which manages $150 billion U.S. in assets, is placing the bets against European
companies during a week in which central banks across Europe and in the U.S. have raised
interest rates to combat inflation, a move that could push the global economy into a recession.