Michael Burry, the “Big Short” investor who became famous for correctly predicting the epic collapse of the housing market in 2008, has bet more than US$1.6 billion on a Wall Street crash.

Burry is making his bearish bets against the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, according to Security Exchange Commission filings released Monday. Burry’s fund, Scion Asset Management, bought US$866 million in put options (that’s the right to sell an asset at a particular price) against a fund that tracks the S&P 500 and US$739 million in put options against a fund that tracks the Nasdaq 100.

Burry is using more than 90% of his portfolio to bet on a market downturn, according to the filings.

But Burry appears to have been wavering between bullish and bearish on his stock picks this year. In January, he tweeted a cryptic message to his 1.4 million followers. “Sell,” he wrote. But by the end of March, he backtracked. “I was wrong to say sell.” he wrote.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 have both notched big gains so far this year. They’re up nearly 16% and 38%, respectively.

In the mid-2000s, Burry was famous for placing a wager against the housing market and profited handsomely from the subprime lending crisis and the collapse of numerous major financial entities in 2008. The event was chronicled by Michael Lewis in his bestseller “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine” and later adapted into a film where Burry was played by Christian Bale.

Burry’s fund is also getting out of its shares in a number of regional banks — it sold its 150,000 shares of First Republic Bank as well as holdings in Huntington Bank PacWest and Western Alliance. It’s unclear whether these sales took place before or after JPMorgan Chase took over First Republic Bank in May.

Burry also reversed course on Chinese stocks — selling his shares of JD.com and Alibaba in the second quarter of the year.

There are some names that Burry and his team at Scion are betting on.

About 6% of the company’s stock portfolio is long and in the second quarter of the year he increased his exposure to the travel and healthcare industry — purchasing shares of Expedia Group, MGM Resorts, CVS and Cigna.

Burry also purchased US$4.7 million shares worth of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery and US$3.3 million in online second hand retailer, The RealReal.

But in financial circles, Michael Burry’s bearish predictions often garner more attention than his optimistic bets. (SD-Agencies)

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【赌注】dǔzhù wager something on which bets are laid

【神秘的】shénmì de cryptic having or seeming to have a hidden or ambiguous meaning

因正确预测2008年房地产市场崩盘一战成名的“大空头”投资者迈克尔•伯里押注超过 16 亿美元赌华尔街崩盘。

根据美国证券交易委员会周一公布的文件，伯里做空了标普500指数和纳斯达克100指数。伯里的基金Scion Asset Management买入了 8.66 亿美元的看跌期权（即以特定价格卖出资产的权利），标的是跟踪标普500的指数基金，以及7.39 亿美元的看跌期权，标的是跟踪纳斯达克100的指数基金。

文件显示，伯里将其投资组合的 90% 以上用于押注市场下跌。

不过，伯里今年在选股上似乎一直在看涨和看跌之间摇摆不定。今年 1 月，他在推特上向 140 万粉丝发出了一条神秘信息。他写道：“卖出。”但3月底他又反悔了，发信息说：“我说卖出是错的。”

今年到目前为止，标普500指数和纳斯达克100指数都收获了大幅上涨，涨幅分别高达近 16% 和 38%。

2000年代中期，伯里因看空房地产市场而出名，并从2008年的次贷危机和众多大型金融实体的倒闭中获利颇丰。迈克尔•刘易斯在畅销书《大空头：末日机器内幕》中记述了这一事件，后来改编成电影，克里斯蒂安•贝尔在片中饰演伯里。

伯里的基金还在减持一些地区性银行的股票 —— 它出售了15万股第一共和银行的股票，以及亨廷顿太平洋西部银行和西部联盟银行的股票。目前尚不清楚这些股票是在摩根大通 5 月份接管第一共和银行之前还是之后卖出的。

伯里还卖出了持有的中资股 —— 今年第二季度卖出了京东和阿里巴巴的股票。

伯里和他的Scion团队也增持了一些股票。

今年二季度，他增加了对旅游和医疗保健行业的投资 —— 购买了Expedia、美高梅集团、CVS和信诺集团的股票。

伯里还购买了CNN母公司华纳兄弟探索价值 470 万美元的股票，以及在线二手零售商 The RealReal价值330万美元的股票。

不过在金融界，伯里看空往往比做多更受关注。

(Translated by Debra)