Hedge funds put in mixed performance in January (updated)

Pershing Square Holdings

02/02/2022 17:07

(New throughout, adds background and more performance figures)
    TORONTO, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Hedge funds ended a volatile
January with widely diverging returns after markets went on a
roller-coaster ride due to geopolitical turmoil and fears of
looming rising interest rates.
    Stock-picking hedge funds lost 6.22% in January, according
to a note from Goldman Sachs seen by Reuters, a steeper decline
than 5.23% loss on Wall Street's S&P 500  SP.X  benchmark, while
health care and technology focussed strategies slid more than
10%. Goldman confirmed the figures in the note.
    Billionaire investor William Ackman's Pershing Square
Holdings lost 8.2% in January, tumbling early in the month and
then clawing back returns in the last week.
    Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings portfolio ended the first
three weeks of January down 13.8%, the worst performance to
start a year for Ackman in years.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2U63GO
    However, Pershing Square Holdings lost 1.3% in both January
2021 and January 2020 after making gains of 18.3% in the first
month of 2019.
    Balyasny Asset Management, which manages $14 billion in
assets, gained 2.4% over the same period, an investor told
Reuters.
    A spokesperson for Balyasny declined to comment.
    Computer-based hedge funds landed in positive territory in
the first month of the year, posting returns of 5.3%, said the
note from Goldman.
    Among computer-based firms, multi-billion-dollar AQR's
alternative risk premia fund ended January up 7.14%, according
to its website.

 (Reporting by Maiya Keidan and Svea Herbst-Bayliss, additional
reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by David Gregorio)
 ((Maiya.Keidan@thomsonreuters.com; 44 207 542 1594; Reuters
Messaging: maiya.keidan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))