(Bloomberg) -- Macro hedge funds got a massive boost from Donald Trump’s US presidential victory in November, and are wagering that this year will bring more of the same.
Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital Management, which manages about $2.5 billion and focuses on macro bets in emerging markets, jumped 52% last year, according to a person familiar with the matter. Zach Schreiber’s PointState Capital rose 47.9%, another person said, asking not to be named as the details aren’t public.
“For the first three to six months of 2025, it is going to be all about ‘America First’ asset performance,” Marko Papic, chief geopolitical strategist at BCA Research, which counts many macro hedge funds as clients, wrote in his outlook for this year.
The dollar has jumped against every major currency since the election, and is now close to par with the euro. US stocks, while they’ve given back some of their post-vote gains, are also higher than they were on Nov. 5.
Macro funds have been emerging from a tough spell, battered by more than a decade of rock-bottom interest rates that curbed their money-making opportunities. Some funds continued to lose out in 2023 even as elevated rates helped others turn their performance around.
Last year brought better luck for many of these managers, who can wager on stocks, bonds, currencies and commodities. These strategies are now posting some the best returns in the hedge fund industry.
D.E. Shaw’s Oculus, the firm’s second-biggest fund that mostly makes macro wagers, soared 36%.
The Trump trade — long stocks and the dollar, short bonds — was a boon for some funds through the election. London-based Chris Rokos made $1 billion soon after it became clear that Trump would win, and his Rokos Capital Management was up 30.7% through Dec. 27, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Other macro funds missed out on the opportunities toward the end of last year. Bridgewater Associates’s Pure Alpha fund, which had been up almost 16% in the first quarter, ended the year up 11.3%.
Here’s the latest list of hedge fund returns for 2024:
(Updates to add Rokos, Point72 and other returns to table)
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