Some of the biggest names on Wall Street have piled into one trade: shorting the Chinese yuan. This, despite the fact that the Chinese government has threatened to punish anyone trying to pull the currency down. These aren’t empty threats, either. China has used it’s reserves to buy yuan and squeeze short sellers out of their positions. The country has $3 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves to do this.
And yet no one is afraid — especially guys with huge funds like Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman and Hayman Capital’s Kyle Bass, who have admitted to being on the short side. Brian Kelly, founder of hedge fund Brian Kelly Capital and who is among those shorting the yuan, told Business Insider why that is. He said:
Nobody cares because the bets have been placed in the derivatives markets and have been locked in for a while — which means any hedging has already taken place and there is not much the PBoC can do. They can threaten capital controls, but they already have them and they are not working and are unlikely to work even if tightened. FULL REPORT
