Ken Griffin’s Wellington hedge fund at Citadel squeezes out 1% gain in volatile August

Billionaire capitalist Ken Griffin's suite of hedge funds astatine Citadel eked retired tiny gains successful what proved a volatile period successful August arsenic markets grappled with an emerging maturation scare.

Citadel's multistrategy Wellington money gained astir 1% successful August, bringing its year-to-date instrumentality to 9.9%, according to a idiosyncratic acquainted with the returns, who spoke anonymously due to the fact that the show numbers are private. All 5 strategies utilized successful the flagship money — commodities, equities, fixed income, recognition and quantitative — were affirmative for the month, the idiosyncratic said.

The Miami-based firm's tactical trading money roseate 1.5% past period and is up 14.5% connected the year. Its equities fund, which uses a long/short strategy, edged up 0.8%, pushing its 2024 returns to 9.3%.

Citadel declined to comment. The hedge money analyzable had astir $63 cardinal successful assets nether absorption arsenic of Aug. 1.

Volatility made a beardown comeback successful August arsenic fears of a recession were rekindled by a anemic July jobs report. On Aug. 5, the S&P 500 dropped 3%, its worst time since September 2022. Still, the marketplace rapidly bounced back, with the equity benchmark ending August up 2.3%. The S&P 500 is present up much than 15% successful 2024.

Overall, the hedge money assemblage precocious moved into a antiaircraft mode arsenic macroeconomic uncertainty mounted. Hedge funds connected nett sold planetary equities for a seventh consecutive week recently, driven by income of connection services positive fiscal and user staples stocks, according to Goldman Sachs' premier brokerage data.