Ray Dalio's flagship fund barely gained in 2019 as the S&P 500 skyrocketed 29%
- Bridgewater Associates Pure Alpha strategy barely gained in 2019, Institutional Investor reported Tuesday, citing an investor in the funds. The S&P 500 rose 29% in the same timeframe.
- The Pure Alpha 18 Percent fund fell 0.5% in 2019 and the Pure Alpha 12 Percent fund gained 0.5% during the same timeframe, according to the report.
- It's a disappointing reversal in performance for the fund, which gained nearly 15% in 2018 while most funds fell, according to Institutional Investor.
- Read more on Business Insider.
Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, struggled to make meaningful gains in 2019 even as the S&P 500 soared.
The firm's flagship strategy, called Pure Alpha, barely gained in 2019, Institutional Investor reported Tuesday, citing an investor in the funds. The Pure Alpha 18 Percent fund fell 0.5% for the year while the Pure Alpha 12 Percent fund gained 0.5% during the same timeframe, according to the report.
The flat performance is a big miss for Bridgewater, as the S&P 500 gained 29% in 2019. It's also a disappointing reversal in the fund's returns from the previous year - in 2018, the Pure Alpha strategy gained nearly 15% while most funds fell, according to the report.
But that performance didn't carry over into 2019. By August, the Pure Alpha fund had fallen as much as 6%, fueled by bearish bets on global interest rates, according to Bloomberg. The underperformance sparked outflows from some wealthy clients in Singapore, Bloomberg reported in December.
Bridgewater's other funds fared better than Pure Alpha in 2019 - the All Weather fund returned 16%, and the All Weather China fund returned 20.1%, according to Institutional Investor. The firm manages more than $160 billion in assets for roughly 350 institutional investors, according to the its website.
Other hedge funds also struggled in 2019. The Horseman Global Fund, run by contrarian Russell Clark, shed 35% during the year betting against the stock market. In addition, more hedge funds closed than opened in 2019 for the fifth year in a row.