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Billionaires poured millions of dollars into presidential super PACs in August

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Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump (L), and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Reuters

The nation’s wealthy opened their wallets in August with a focus on election season, donating millions to the super PACs backing Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump and Democrats and Republicans throughout the country, according to monthly reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday.

The largest single-contributor donations went to MAGA Inc., the super PAC backing Trump, with Wisconsin roofing billionaire Diane Hendricks, a prolific GOP megadonor, giving $10 million to the group.

Howard Lutnick, the CEO of the financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald, and Paul Singer, the president of Elliott Management, an investment management firm, both gave $5 million to MAGA Inc.

Annette Caldwell Simmons, the widow of businessman Harold Simmons, gave $2 million to MAGA Inc., while Warren Stephens, the CEO of investment bank Stephens Inc., gave $1 million.

On the Democratic side, tech entrepreneurs were the biggest donors to FF PAC, also known as Future Forward, a super PAC backing Harris’ presidential bid.

The biggest donors to the group in August were Facebook and Asana co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson and his wife, Erica.

Moskovitz donated $3 million to FF PAC, while Hastings, Jeff Lawson and Erica Lawson each gave $1 million.

Hastings, who is a major backer of Democrats, was one of the biggest Democratic donors to publicly call for President Joe Biden to step aside from his re-election campaign earlier this year.

The reports out Friday only included donations from Aug. 1 through Aug. 31, the first full month that Harris was the presumptive — and later official — Democratic presidential nominee.

Super PACs like FF PAC and MAGA Inc. are havens for prolific political megadonors like Hendricks, Lutnick and Hastings because, unlike campaigns and their affiliated committees, super PACs don’t have limits on how much individuals can donate.

Further down the ballot, Club for Growth Action, a conservative super PAC that boosts GOP congressional and Senate candidates, received two major donations in August of $5 million each from Jeff Yass, the co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, a trading group, and Richard Uihlein, the founder of shipping supply company Uline.

Yass and Uihlein are both major GOP megadonors who have given to Club for Growth and other conservative groups for multiple election cycles.

On the Democratic side, House Majority PAC, a group that boosts Democrats running for Congress, received $600,000 in August from Amos Hostetter Jr., the co-founder of Continental Cablevision, the biggest donation to the group for this filing period.

Hostetter has a history of donating to anti-Trump groups.

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T. Rowe Price likes stock picking now

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One of the largest active ETF managers on leveraging fund tactics in new ways

It appears T. Rowe Price is benefitting from the record growth in actively managed exchange traded funds.

Tim Coyne, the firm’s head of ETFs, reports the firm is seeing significant growth in the area — listing the T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF (TCAF) and T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF (TSPA) as two established strategies that can satisfy investor demand.

“I think having that professionally managed portfolio is really beneficial to clients,” Coyne told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “We’re seeing just… greater volatility [and] uncertainty across both the equity and fixed income markets.

According to Coyne, the T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF suits investors who are looking for long-term growth.

“The objective of the fund is to outperform the S&P 500 with lower volatility and greater tax efficiency,” he said. “It’s also a more concentrated portfolio, typically holding around a hundred names.”

As of April 24, the fund’s top holdings include Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple according to the T. Rowe Price website. But it’s not all Big Tech. The ETF also features smaller positions in companies like Becton Dickinson and Roper Technologies.

The T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Equity ETF is down about 5% so far this year while the S&P 500 is off about 7% However, the ETF is up close to 8% over the past year — roughly identical to the S&P 500’s performance.

Coyne notes the T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF follows a similar strategy, but with a heavier weighting in top tech stocks.

“This is more of a large-cap growth product [T Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF],” he said. “There are components of characteristics of both passive and active here. This fund is actually managed by our North American directors of research. So again, strong fundamental research is going into the stock selection.”

Both the T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF and S&P 500 are down around 7% since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, the fund is up almost 9% over the past year. That’s less than one percent better than the S&P 500’s performance.

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T. Rowe Price U.S. Equity Research ETF vs. S&P 500

‘Some form of bear market’

Strategas Securities’ Todd Sohn thinks investment demand for active managers will continue to be strong.

“This is the type of the environment where it [active management] can actually shine,” the firm’s senior ETF and technical strategist said. “We are in some form of bear market. This is where the active manager really can come into hand and offer their solution they are doing right.”

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