Hedge funds walloped by a month of turmoil sparked by war

[LONDON] Some of the world’s biggest hedge funds known for delivering steady returns lost money in March as the war in the Middle East roiled markets across energy, bonds and equities and forced traders to unwind crowded positions.

Multi-strategy hedge funds ranging from ExodusPoint Capital Management to Balyasny Asset Management, Citadel and Millennium Management posted declines, giving up all or part of their gains from the prior two months, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

There were, however, some notable winners such as the Andurand Commodities Discretionary Enhanced fund, which jumped 30.6 per cent in March. Kepos Capital’s Alpha fund and Swiss firm Adapt Investment Managers were among the others that gained.

The escalating conflict that choked off shipping traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz sent oil prices surging, while fears over inflation upended interest rate expectations and triggered a bond sell-off. 

Earlier in March, JPMorgan Chase strategists said hedge funds experienced their biggest drawdown since the Liberation Day tariff turmoil, with commodity trading advisers hit by their worst stretch in almost a year and equity long-short funds posting heavy losses due to overweight positions in European stocks.

Representatives for the firms declined to, or didn’t immediately respond to a request for, comment. BLOOMBERG