(Reuters) – Macro funds this year posted their highest first-quarter performance since 1993, as fund managers navigated well amid high volatile markets, a report by hedge fund data provider HFR showed on Thursday.
Macro hedge funds, which bet on macroeconomics trends, rose 7.7% in the quarter, according to a macro fund index, helped by skyrocketing commodities prices, rising interest rates and inflation.
“The combination of these two powerful market dynamics of inflation/interest rates and historic geopolitical risk has contributed to massive dislocations across commodity, equity, and fixed income markets and unprecedented macro and geopolitical uncertainty, with managers navigating tremendous and fluid volatility,” said Kenneth J. Heinz, President of HFR.
In the last two quarters of 2021, hedge funds posted losses, but still ended the year in a positive note, with gains of 7.7%.
Overall, hedge funds ended the first quarter of this year 0.30% down, the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index showed, outperforming the S&P index, which declined 4.60%, the report showed.
Both equity hedge and event-driven funds indexes posted losses in the first quarter.
(Reporting by Carolina Mandl, additional reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by David Gregorio)