Hedge Funds Navigate Market Shifts in November

November was a month of ups and downs for hedge funds. Despite a rough start with tech stocks taking a hit, big names like Citadel, Balyasny, and Point72 still managed to make gains. Citadel, based in Miami and led by billionaire Ken Griffin, saw its main fund, Wellington, rise by 1. 4%. This brings its yearly gain to 8. 3%. Citadel's Tactical Trading fund, which mixes human and computer-driven strategies, is up 16. 3% for the year after a 2. 6% boost in November. Balyasny, with $30 billion under management, had a solid month with a 2. 5% gain, making its yearly return 15. 3%. ExodusPoint also did well, adding 1. 2% to its November performance and pushing its yearly return to 15. 6%. Steve Cohen's Point72 saw a 1. 4% gain last month, bringing its yearly return to 15%. Millennium, managing $81 billion, had a smaller gain of 0. 5% in November, bringing its yearly return to 8. 3%. However, some of its teams that focus on index rebalancing had significant losses. Overall, these hedge funds did better than the S&P 500, which only gained 0. 1% in November. The index was hit by early tech stock sell-offs but recovered somewhat thanks to strong earnings from Nvidia and solid iPhone sales from Apple. Even though the S&P 500 is up over 16% for the year, many hedge funds still haven't matched that performance. This shows how challenging the market can be, even for the biggest players.