Hedge Funds 2020: What to Expect

Where are hedge funds headed next year? What is the outlook for the industry vis-à-vis new hires, M&As? Here we present the thoughts of some experts in the field, most notably Alexis DuFresne, Whitney Partners Director, Paul Tudor Jones of Investment Corporation and Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors.

In a recent YouTube video, on a presentation entitled “Bloomberg Markets: The Close” Alexis DuFresne spoke with Scarlet Fu, Romaine Bostick and Katia Porzecanski. She said she is:

“More optimistic than last year as this is a record year for acquisitions. Right now we are left with a lot of opportunity for talent, not necessarily new hires but replacement hires so we will see volume, not necessarily new positions, mostly upgrades….Secondary space which is growing year over year. This year we’ve seen about 50 billion in asset inflows versus hedge funds. Over the past six quarters hedge funds have been losing assets and I think this quarter is about 36 billion in outflows in hedge funds so we really see that reflected in the private equity side and I’ve seen numbers all over the place in terms of asset raising anywhere from 200-500 billion going into private strategies so that also indicates that there’s hiring, new hiring.”

The video also showed Hedge Fund Performance to be:

Equity – 8.63%;
Credit – 5.72%;
Macro – 5.19%;
RV – 5.41%;
Event – 4.79%.

Looking at the industry within the political realm, Tudor Investment Corporation’s CEO and founder Paul Tudor Jones asked what would happen if Elizabeth Warren was elected president? He believes this would result in a 25 percent dip in the market.

Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisors chairman and CEO had a similar thought telling CNBC that: They won’t open the stock market if Elizabeth Warren is the next president.”

Why are these individuals predicting such potential doom and gloom? They believe that incorporated into Warren’s plans are the dismantling of large tech firms, a re-invention of the healthcare system, a banning on fracking and more.