ch8in aint easy
Thinking big is all the rage these days with U.S. money managers. Many are hiring high-profile economists to help them better navigate global economic and geopolitical events.
Hedge funds and other institutional investors are tapping so-called macro thinkers like economists Martin Feldstein, Henry Kaufman and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan at a time when fundamental analysis is often being overwhelmed by big-picture political and governmental risks.
This year alone, hedge fund EQA Partners brought on former Federal Reserve governor Randall Kroszner, and Brevan Howard, a British-based hedge fund, hired Shelley Goldberg, a former commodities strategist at Nouriel Roubini’s Roubini Global Economics.
Yet with the mediocre performance this year of macro funds that make wagers on big-picture events, it is surprising that even more narrowly focused hedge funds keep turning to famous macro thinkers for advice.
Skeptics say it may simply be a case of fund managers looking to find cover for positions they take by bringing on a famous name to justify their moves to investors.
Indeed, it’s been a frustrating year even for the best investors, not just managers of macro funds, which are down more than 1 percent year-to-date, according to Hedge Fund Research. The overall hedge fund industry is up a meager 5 percent, roughly half of the gain posted this year by the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
The rough time for hedge funds is showing up in some high-profile closures like former Goldman trader Pierre Henri-Flamand, who is shutting his Edoma Partners, citing “unprecedented market conditions.” Former SAC Capital and Tiger Management portfolio manager Matt Grossman is winding down his hedge fund, Plural Investments, for similar reasons.
Others like hedge-fund titan Louis Moore Bacon are citing “disappointing” returns as the reason to pull back the reins and shrink some. Bacon, for instance, is returning $2 billion to investors in his $8
Hedge funds and other institutional investors are tapping so-called macro thinkers like economists Martin Feldstein, Henry Kaufman and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan at a time when fundamental analysis is often being overwhelmed by big-picture political and governmental risks.
This year alone, hedge fund EQA Partners brought on former Federal Reserve governor Randall Kroszner, and Brevan Howard, a British-based hedge fund, hired Shelley Goldberg, a former commodities strategist at Nouriel Roubini’s Roubini Global Economics.
Yet with the mediocre performance this year of macro funds that make wagers on big-picture events, it is surprising that even more narrowly focused hedge funds keep turning to famous macro thinkers for advice.
Skeptics say it may simply be a case of fund managers looking to find cover for positions they take by bringing on a famous name to justify their moves to investors.
Indeed, it’s been a frustrating year even for the best investors, not just managers of macro funds, which are down more than 1 percent year-to-date, according to Hedge Fund Research. The overall hedge fund industry is up a meager 5 percent, roughly half of the gain posted this year by the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
The rough time for hedge funds is showing up in some high-profile closures like former Goldman trader Pierre Henri-Flamand, who is shutting his Edoma Partners, citing “unprecedented market conditions.” Former SAC Capital and Tiger Management portfolio manager Matt Grossman is winding down his hedge fund, Plural Investments, for similar reasons.
Others like hedge-fund titan Louis Moore Bacon are citing “disappointing” returns as the reason to pull back the reins and shrink some. Bacon, for instance, is returning $2 billion to investors in his $8