As we’ve discussed, 2019 was a “meh” year for hedge funds. Returns look pretty OK in isolation, but when compared with, say, an S&P 500 index fund, they look a good deal less OK. (Unless you are one of the very rare souls investing with a woman or person of color, in which case things look somewhat more OK.) All around the world, there’s really not much to celebrate for those not named Bill Ackman or Chris Hohn (and even he’s not celebrating as much as he could be, given the continuing demands of the former missus and also the impending extinction of the human race).
Except for this: Sure, we humans didn’t do a great job, markets-wise, last year. But you know what? Our future robot overlords didn’t, either.
Voleon Group, one of the best known machine-learning hedge funds, returned 7% last year in its flagship strategy after drawing inflows on the back of a stellar performance in 2018…. The 2019 return compares with a 9.2% gain for hedge funds overall, according to the Bloomberg All Hedge Fund Index. A Eurekahedge gauge tracking funds using AI and machine learning rose 6.4% last year.
Machine-Learning Hedge Fund Voleon Group Returns 7% in 2019 [Bloomberg]
Hedge Funds Not Led by White Men Outperform Nearly 2 to 1 [Bloomberg]
For Many Hedge Funds in Asia, 2019 Was Good, But Not Good Enough [Bloomberg]
The World’s Most-Profitable Hedge Fund Is Now a Climate Radical [Bloomberg]