Global fundamental long/short managers had their best month on Goldman Sachs Prime Services’ record in April. The asset-weighted return was 9.07 percent for the month and 8.05 percent year to date. Goldman’s data series goes back to 2016, so this is the strongest print in roughly a decade.
Asia did most of the heavy lifting. Asia-focused funds finished April up 13.64 percent and are now up 20.10 percent for the year. US managers returned 7.12 percent for the month, Europe 6.62 percent. Systematic long/short funds added 1.56 percent in the final week and are up 9.38 percent year to date.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 total return index gained 10.49 percent in April and the MSCI World total return index gained 9.59 percent. The S&P closed April at 7,209, its first close above 7,200 and its strongest monthly print since November 2020. So managers tracked the broad market closely, with Asia exposure giving the leaders a real lead.
Goldman’s noted that performance dispersion among managers widened sharply during the month. Most of the gains from top performers came from a single catalyst.
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