Soros Said to Return to Hands-On Trading, Sees Market Shifts

Billionaire investor George Soros has become more involved in trading at his family office, concerned about the outlook for the global economy and the risk that large market shifts may be at hand, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Soros, 85, has been spending more time in the office directing trades and recently oversaw a series of big, bearish investments, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. Soros Fund Management LLC sold stocks and bought gold and shares of gold miners last quarter, anticipating weakness in various markets, according to a government filing.

A New York-based spokesman for Soros declined to comment in an e-mail to Bloomberg News. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported Soros’s decision.

The octogenarian and philanthropist, who built a $24 billion fortune through savvy wagers on markets, has taken a dim view of the world economy and particularly of China. In April, Soros said China’s debt-fueled economy resembles the U.S. in 2007-08, before credit markets seized up and spurred a global recession. Most of the money that banks in China are supplying is needed to keep bad debts and loss-making enterprises alive, Soros said at the time.

Link: Soros Said to Return to Hands-On Trading, Sees Market Shifts