Harry Rady Online – San Diego, CA

The father of Harry Rady of Rady Asset Management is a well known businessman and philanthropist in San Diego County. Ernest Rady donated $60 million to San Diego’s Children’s Hospital and Health Center in June of 2006. This gift ranked among the ten largest donations in San Diego history.

San Diego is hopeful that this donation will be the spark to light a new wave of large donations into the San Diego region.

Rady has given generously in the past. The University of California in San Diego was the recipient of Rady’s largesse in 2004 in the amount of 30 million dollars, and created the Rady School of Management.

In an interview conducted by Maria Bartiromo on CNBC,  Harry Rady, of Rady Asset Management responded to questions concerning the new approach theObama administration is now taking to health care reform.

The news in mid-August seemed to signal that health care reform in the United States was going to be more of an “evolution” rather than the originally hoped for (by President Obama) “revolution.” In response to this apparent change the health care sector of the stock market experienced a broad rally.

Harry Rady commented that he, along with Rady Asset Management tries to asses an economic climate outside the influence of government forces, which are unpredictable and unreliable. Rady therefore looks to investments which are dependable no matter what the government decides to do.

In light of the Obama administration’s apparent backing down from the sweeping reforms it originally proposed to a more moderate health care reform package Maria Bartiromo of CNBC asked Harry Rady of Rady Asset Management and Barbara Ryan of Deutsche Bank Securities to respond. Listen to the video below for the full discussion.

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In mid June the stock market seems to be choosing a direction as the three month gain of 39.9 percent in the S&P index falters. After reaching a 12 year low on March 9, 2009, the stock market has been making an Olympian recovery which, according to many analysts, should have taken years to achieve instead of the gold medal-winning three months.

As the blitzkrieg rise began to slow investors and traders continued to (unsuccessfully) look for new signs of other economic strengthening.

After several comments made by the Russian finance minister, the dollar began to rise in comparison with other currencies. The stronger dollar forced prices for oil and other materials down, bringing to a halt the increase in prices recently of these energy and materials stocks.

Harry Rady is not surprised.

“The market just seems to keep driving the car into the wall and then wonders why it can’t keep driving,” Rady said.

As the dollar strengthens the prices of commodities, oil and other materials are heading downward. According to Harry Rady of Rady Asset Management, the recent surge in stocks has been too fast compared to the poor state of the economy.

“The market just seems to keep driving the car into the wall and then wonders why it can’t keep driving,” Rady said.

After deep drops in prices of stocks in Europe and Asia in response to the strengthening dollar, prices of commodities and other materials declined.

An additional blow came when the index of manufacturing in New York showed that demand was also faltered in the months of May and June.

Appearing on CNBC ‘s Tuesday’s Task Force with Brian Belski of Oppenheimer & Co., Harry Rady, CEO of Rady Asset Management on June 23, 2009, stated his belief that if the U.S. government continues issueing debt to the tune of trillions of dollars, even if it is at the same time buying back some debt, that the equity market will continue to be vulnerable.

Harry Rady continued to explain that as these second and third tier companies (junk companies) continue to rally he sees excellent chances to short and build cash, perhaps as never before.

Quoted on “CNBC Stock Blog”, this past June 9, Harry Rady of Rady Assets commented that, “If Fed rates continue up much further, it will have a significant effect on the equity market.”

Harry Rady believes that there is still trouble brewing in the equities markets and it is still vulnerable. He also believes that there are still many opportunities to build cash and to short.

According to the article on the CNBC Stock Blog, Harry Rady of Rady Asset Management continues to be bearish despite the recent stock market rally. “I am more bearish than ever,” admits Rady, and he says he is continuing to “take chips off the table.”

Admitting that “It’s been an extraordinary rally,” Rady continued to explain that “even if we’re a little early, we’ve decided to take some chips off the table, raise cash and build some short positions.”

Rady’s feeling is that the recent market rally is a “head-fake” and that we should not expect consumers to suddenly go back to the “buying-spree” that they were participating in in the past.

“We’re approximately 70 percent in cash,” Rady said, describing his portfolio. “The cash position has been built mainly over the last week. As the rally continued, we’ve sold into the rally and put on more shorts.”

Two industries Rady does feel bullish about are the drug and biotechnology sectors.

As one of the sectors viewed in today’s economic climate as non-essential, the gaming industry is suffering sluggish sales and a shrinking market. WMS Industries, a company that manufactures slot machines, has paradoxically experienced a surge recently in its stock’s value, increasing company earnings, while becoming more efficient, and increasing its market share despite the general decline in the gaming market. There are some market analysts that predict that WMS will soon overtake International Game Technology as the industry’s leader.

Not all analysts agree, however. Harry Rady of Rady Asset Management believes that the stock has already absorbed the effect of WMS over performing.  According to Rady,

“A slip backwards in results could send the stock tumbling.”

The expectation of new slot machine purchases by the casino industry is declining, according to a UNS survey. It was found that only 22% of game managers are planning on ordering new equipment this coming year, compared to close to 50% last year.

In an appearance in the CNBC Video “Making Sense of the Markets” Harry Rady of Rady Asset Management, along with two other guests, give their analysis of recent market trends and advice on how to best product assets in the future economic uncertainty we are facing.