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Big hedge funds score November gains with Trump election

Hedge funds gained 1.46% in November, up 10.6% year-to-date

Several multibillion-dollar hedge funds gained in November, numbers seen by Reuters show, riding the volatility of the US presidential election despite tight polling that made positioning more difficult for portfolio managers.

Following the election of Donald Trump on November 5, US stocks, the dollar and bitcoin rallied, while the euro and Mexico’s peso struggled. US treasuries did well in November, with the 10-year Treasury yield down by about 10 basis points over the course of the month, as a rally at the end of the month offset yield gains around the election.

Overall, global hedge funds posted gains of 1.46 per cent last month through November 27, and are up 10.6 per cent year-to-date, according to a Morgan Stanley prime brokerage note published on November 29.

Some portfolio managers, however, posted gains well above the average.

Technology-focused equity hedge fund SoMa Equity Partners soared 9.5 per cent last month and had its best monthly performance, mainly benefiting gains in mid- and small caps, a source familiar with the numbers said.

Among the biggest contributors to its performance were WIX, which soared almost 32 per cent in November, and Datadog and Shopify, up 22 per cent and 44.5 per cent respectively.

Macro hedge fund Discovery Capital, founded by Rob Citrone, jumped 14.5 per cent last month, another person said. His fund is up 46.5 per cent on the year.

Discovery is known as a “Tiger cub” as its founder worked for legendary investor Julian Robertson at Tiger Management. Citrone bets on macro trends as well as equities, both long and short positions. All the asset classes were positive contributors to performance, this source added.

Multi-strategy hedge fund Cinctive Capital, with roughly $3 billion in assets at the end of 2023, jumped 5.1 per cent last month, driven by returns in sectors such as technology, consumer, energy, utilities and financials.

Ken Griffin’s Citadel and Schonfeld both gained 1.8 per cent in their flagship multi-strategy funds Wellington and Strategic Partners, according to sources. The Winton Fund gained 0.3 per cent, a separate source said.