Ken Griffin's flagship hedge fund reportedly crushed the S&P 500 with 5% gain during January's stock market rout

• Billionaire Ken Griffin's hedge funds advance in January while the US stock market sank, CNBC reported Thursday.
• Citadel's multistrategy flagship fund Wellington rose 4.71% while the S&P 500 index dropped 5.3% last month.

Hedge funds run by billionaire Ken Griffin trounced the performance of the US stock market in January, according to a CNBC report Thursday, with his assets gaining ground while major equity indexes tumbled as investors quickly priced in likely interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Citadel's multistrategy flagship fund Wellington last month logged a gain of 4.71%, an unnamed source familiar with the fund's returns told CNBC.

The global fixed income fund posted a return of 4.91% and Citadel's equities fund rose 0.89% last month. Its tactical trading strategy logged a 1.79% return, the source told the news outlet.

January was a losing month for the S&P 500 index, with its 5.3% decline the sharpest monthly fall since March 2020 when the impact of the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic raced through global financial markets. The consumer discretionary and information technology sectors were among the hardest hit last month as investors prepared for the Fed to raise interest rates this year to slow down the roaring pace of inflation. Consumer price inflation surged to 7% in December.

Mega-cap technology stocks also bore the brunt of investors repricing valuations in the face of multiple rate hikes and a reduction in the Fed's balance sheet as the central bank pulls back from its emergency response to the pandemic. The Nasdaq Composite sank 8.9% last month and reached into correction territory as it fell by more than 10% from its all-time in November.

Projections from investment banks include Bank of America foreseeing the Fed raising interest rates seven times in 2022 and Goldman Sachs' call of five increases this year.