Bridgewater reduced its holdings in Google, NVIDIA, Meta, etc. in Q1, made a large purchase of gold, initiated a position in JD.com, and increased its holdings in Alibaba and Baidu

The latest 13F report released on Wednesday shows that as of the quarter ending March 31 this year, Bridgewater Associates, led by Ray Dalio, reduced its holdings in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF during the quarter and significantly increased its position in the SPDR Gold ETF (GLD). The financial sector ranked among the top sectors that Bridgewater increased its holdings in, while the healthcare sector saw the largest reduction.

Despite Bridgewater's reduction in SPDR S&P 500 ETF in the first quarter of this year, it remains its largest holding, accounting for 8.7%.

It is worth mentioning that during the first quarter, Bridgewater made a substantial purchase of the SPDR Gold ETF, which became the largest new position for Bridgewater that quarter, totaling $319 million. The gold ETF surged 19% in the first quarter of this year and continued to rise in the subsequent second quarter, although it has since retreated from the historical high set in April.

In the first quarter of this year, Bridgewater published a lengthy article detailing the drivers and prospects of the gold surge and why it is necessary to allocate to gold. Bridgewater pointed out, "You won't find another asset like this. There is no asset that you can buy and hold that has such low correlation with traditional stocks and bonds. It is extremely rare and therefore very valuable."

From an industry allocation perspective, the sector that Bridgewater increased the most in the first quarter was the financial sector, which includes newly established positions in the insurance company Chubb and Goldman Sachs. The sector with the largest reduction was healthcare, with exited stocks including Moderna and CorVel. Additionally, Bridgewater reduced its holdings in several popular U.S. tech stocks, including Alphabet, Nvidia, AppLovin, and Meta Platforms.

In terms of Chinese concept stocks, Bridgewater initiated a position in JD.com and increased its holdings in Alibaba and Baidu during the first quarter.

According to media analysis and statistics, Bridgewater disclosed 664 investments, with a total market value that decreased by 1.2% from the previous quarter, falling to $21.6 billion.

The following are the new positions established by Bridgewater in the first quarter, with significant positions including gold, JD.com, United Airlines, Chubb, and Delta Air Lines:

The following are the positions that Bridgewater completely exited in the first quarter. The largest exits included ON Semiconductor, Moderna, Lyft, and Chewy.

The following are the main increases in holdings by Bridgewater in the first quarter, with Alibaba and Baidu being the top Chinese concept stocks. After the increase, Bridgewater's holdings in Alibaba are valued at approximately $750 million. Chinese concept stocks significantly outperformed the U.S. market in the first quarter of this year, with Alibaba soaring over 55% during the quarter and Baidu recording an increase of over 9%. Other major increases included Booking, Palo Alto Networks, and ServiceNow

The following is the main reduction situation of Bridgewater Associates in the first quarter. In addition to the S&P 500 ETF, Bridgewater's reductions are mainly focused on large technology stocks, with the largest reductions being in Google, NVIDIA, AppLovin, and Meta. In the first quarter of this year, along with the decline of the US stock market, these technology stocks all recorded declines for the quarter.