From New York Post
Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge-fund firm, with $120 billion in assets, has hit a rough patch.
After leaving its rivals in the dust for the past two years with mouth-watering double-digit returns, Bridgewater is now trailing them. Its flagship fund, Pure Alpha, fell 2.7 percent in 2012’s first half.
Dalio is a widely watched guru of the financial markets. But his devotion to the dollar helped drive Pure Alpha into the red, a source close to the fund told The Post.
The fact that Bridgewater is down 2.7% for the half year for some reason seems to be big news. I have had it bounced to me a few times today.
Whilst my view of the hedge fund industry has not changed (overcompensated and underperforming) I dont think a fund being down 2.6% for a half year to be world shattering news. Particularly since Bridgewater seems to be one of a tiny handful of funds that actually deliver positive alpha.
Such breathless headlines are more reflective of a lack of maturity within the ranks of financial reporters as to how trading actually works than any great failure of Bridgewater.
