Products You May Like
Billionaire investor Ken Griffin’s flagship hedge fund rallied last month when the broader market was rattled by tight monetary policy as well as rising recession fears, according to a person familiar with the returns.
Citadel’s multi-strategy flagship Wellington fund gained 1.7% in September, bringing its 2023 performance to 12.6%, the person said. The S&P 500 pulled back 4.9% last month, suffering its worst month of the year. The equity benchmark is still up 11% for the year.
The market has grown more volatile and fragile as investors grapple with a higher-for-longer interest-rate regime. Stocks resumed the sell-off this week as the 10-year Treasury yield surged to a 16-year high. Many notable investors, including Pershing Square’s Bill Ackman, have warned of a deteriorating economy after a series of aggressive rate hikes.
Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, told CNBC last month that he was skeptical that this year’s rally, powered mostly by artificial intelligence-related stocks, can be sustainable.
“I’m a bit anxious that this rally can continue,” Griffin said. “Obviously one of the big drivers of the rally has been … just the frenzy over generative AI, which has powered many Big Tech stocks. … We’re sort of in the seventh or eighth inning of this rally.”
Citadel’s equities fund, which uses a long/short strategy, was up 1.1% in September and 10.7% this year, while its global fixed income fund is higher by 8.8% so far in 2023, the person said.
Citadel had $61 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 1. The Wellington fund soared 38% in 2022 for its best year ever.