George Soros gets out of stocks and into gold

Billionaire George Soros expected a decline in the stock market and seeks refuge in gold. In the first quarter, he sold a quarter of his portfolio of U.S. stocks, while investing $264 million in shares of Barrick Gold. This is evident from figures published by the US regulator on Monday. With a stake of 1.7%, he is also the largest American shareholder of the gold mining company. Soros has also taken an option on 1.05 million shares in the SPDR Gold Trust, which is better known as GLD. This is a fund that holds a position in gold as collateral for shares.

Soros prefers gold to stocks

Soros doubled down on a decline in the S&P 500, the main U.S. stock market index. He took a put option on 2.1 million shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, an option that makes money in the event of a decline in the U.S. stock market. Soros recently warned of the problematic increase in debt in China, in which he sees the harbinger of a new crisis comparable to the 2008 financial crisis in the United States.

Soros expects a flight to safe havens, which will also benefit the mining sector. In addition to shares of Barrick Gold Bought In the first quarter of this year, he also acquired one million shares of mining company Silver Wheaton, which represents a value of $19 million at the current price. In the event of an increase in Gold price these shares can become much more valuable.

Tech companies from the portfolio

Another shift within Soros' investment portfolio is the sale of various technology companies. He reduced his position in Google in the first quarter of this year from more than 65,000 to just 6,637 shares. He also sold almost half of his Facebook shares at the beginning of this year. An exception is Apple, where Soros added a few of them to his portfolio.

Soros built up a fortune of $24 billion during his career by betting a lot of money on macroeconomic trends. In 1992 he gained a lot of notoriety, when he successfully speculated on a devaluation of the British pound. He also foresaw the financial crisis in the United States in 2007/2008.

George Soros gets into gold and sells shares