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Stanley Druckenmiller says the past few weeks have been a humbling experience.
“
‘Well I’ve been humbled many times in my career, and I’m sure I’ll be many times in the future. And the last three weeks certainly fits that category.’
”
— Stanley Druckenmiller
The famed former hedge-fund manager, who with George Soros famously broke the Bank of England by shorting the pound in 1992, told CNBC that his return during a more than 40% rally for the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
S&P 500 index
SPX,
and the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
from lows put in on March 23 has been a meager 3%.
Specifically, the S&P 500 and the Dow have surged more than 43% each, while the technology-laden index has returned 45% since the late-March low and is now on the verge of carving out an all-time closing high on Monday.
Read: Why Stanley Druckenmiller says the risk-reward of investing in stocks has never been worse
Back on May 12, speaking at a webinar run by The Economic Club of New York, the chairman and chief executive of Duquesne Family Office, described the dynamic in the market a month ago thusly: “The risk-reward for equity is maybe as bad as I’ve seen it in my career.”
Druckenmiller noted at the time that it isn’t usually wise to bet against a Federal Reserve that is supporting the market, with a series of cuts that took interest rates to a range of 0% and 0.25% in March, driving its balance sheet up to $7.21 trillion as of early June, from some $4 trillion from March.
However, the prominent investor said that valuations looked too lofty given the potential for a wave of corporate bankruptcies and an uncertain economic.
To be sure, the economy has seemingly improved, or at least bottomed, with the Labor Department on Friday, indicating that 2.5 million jobs were created in May, rather than some 8 million or 9 million that had been feared lost. But things could still spiral lower if the COVID-19 pandemic sees a resurgence or second wave of infections.
That said, Druckenmiller acknowledged that he underestimated the length the Fed would go to help support the financial markets. Investors will get more clarity on the central bank’s policy stance on Wednesday, at the conclusion of their two-day meeting.
Granted, there were a number of other investors that thought a month ago that the market would be sure to retest its March lows.
The NHL became the first major American sports league to announce its intention to return with live sports play on Tuesday. While fans might have to wait a bit for the action to fully return, there’s at least a plan in place for the season to resume in this calendar year.
The plan in question is one that foregoes the remainder of the regular season and jumps straight to the postseason–a 24-team pool for the Stanley Cup, to be exact. With that news in mind, it means that there’s going to be new odds on which of the 24 playoff-bound teams has the best chance to lift that famed cup over their head on the ice.
Unsurprisingly to those who paid attention to the season, the odds are particularly sympathetic to the Boston Bruins at +550. At the time that the NHL announced it was going to put its schedule on pause because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Bruins were leading the NHL with 100 total points on the season.
Tied with Boston are the Vegas Golden Knights, who also boast +550 odds to win it all, and were third in the Western Conference in total points at the time of suspension, with 82. Ahead of them were last year’s Stanley Cup champions, the St. Louis Blues (94 points), and the Colorado Avalanche (92 points). The Blues sit at +800 while the Avalanche sit at +850.
You can find the entire list of Stanley Cup odds, courtesy of William Hill Sportsbook, below:
Vegas Golden Knights +550
Boston Bruins +550
Tampa Bay Lightning +600
Washington Capitals +800
St. Louis Blues +800
Colorado Avalanche +850
Philadelphia Flyers +1200
Dallas Stars +1500
Pittsburgh Penguins +1500
Nashville Predators +2500
Edmonton Oilers +2500
Toronto Maple Leafs +2500
Calgary Flames +3000
Winnipeg Jets +5000
Vancouver Canucks +5000
Arizona Coyotes +5000
Carolina Hurricanes +5000
New York Rangers +7500
Columbus Blue Jackets +7500
Florida Panthers +7500
New York Islanders +7500
Minnesota Wild +7500
Montreal Canadiens +10000
Chicago Blackhawks +10000