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Michael Burry, best known for calling 2008’s subprime mortgage crisis, just added a new notch in his belt by predicting the latest market correction led by tech stocks. The California-based investor, who now runs his hedge fund Scion Asset Management, had amassed massive bets against the stock market in the second quarter. At the end of June, he owned 20,000 put contracts, with unknown value, strike price or expiry, against the SPDR S & P 500 ETF Trust , with a value of $886.6 million. Scion also held puts against two million shares of the Invesco QQQ ETF , which tracks the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index. These 20,000 options contracts were against shares worth $738.8 million at the end of the second quarter. Put options increase in value as the underlying asset falls in price. These two indices fell into correction territory this week , making Burry’s bets lucrative in theory. The Nasdaq Composite dropped deeper into correction territory Thursday, down nearly 13% from its record high, as Meta became the latest tech company to offer a forecast that didn’t quite live up to investors’ expectations. The S & P 500 was 10.2% off its 52-week high. CNBC emailed the famously reclusive Burry for comment. He did not respond immediately. Burry shot to fame by betting against mortgage securities before the 2008 crisis. Burry was depicted in Michael Lewis’ book “The Big Short” and the subsequent Oscar-winning movie of the same name. While it’s been 15 years since Burry’s home-run success betting against the housing bubble, investors still tend to hang on every word he says on X, where he has accumulated 1.4 million followers. In March, he commented on the banking crisis, saying the turmoil brought on by the demise of Silicon Valley Bank should be over soon without severe damage. The widely followed investor has been warning of a market bubble over the past two years, calling the drawdowns of speculative assets such as cryptocurrencies, meme stocks and SPACs. He was also particularly negative on the Federal Reserve being behind the inflation curve. Also in the second quarter, Burry bought small stakes in travel names Expedia and MGM Resorts , as well as health-care plays Cigna and CVS Health .
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