The massive selloff on Wall Street following the Republicans’ defeat in the US midterm elections has dealt a new blow to major hedge funds, the Wall Street Journal reports. Hedge funds have reportedly been slashing staff and dumping assets after suffering heavy losses in recent months.
Funds specializing in technology, media, and telecommunications stocks lost more than 4% on Thursday alone, according to Goldman Sachs data, cited by WSJ. The crash virtually erased their annual gains, which reached as much as 24% in June. Funds investing across multiple asset classes lost 1.4%.
The latest losses followed a disastrous October, when hedge funds that bet on individual stocks rushed to sell investments and close positions at the fastest pace in more than a decade, according to Morgan Stanley. The funds have reduced their market exposure by roughly 9% since June, while more than 40% were breaking even or losing money for the year through October.
Several major firms have also scaled back operations. Samlyn Capital, which manages around $7 billion, is cutting staff as it shifts its investment strategy to focus on financial-services stocks. Engineers Gate has cut nearly all portfolio managers working on one of its trading strategies, while Walleye Capital plans to return some client money after its worst month since March 2020, according to the WSJ.
The October selloff followed earnings reports from major US technology companies that revealed soaring AI spending, with some firms burning through cash to finance new data centers and computing infrastructure. Investors questioned whether these investments would generate sufficient returns and began dumping technology stocks. The decline hit hedge funds that had invested heavily in the sector, often using borrowed money.
The selling has spread beyond technology stocks. Arini Capital Management has slashed its corporate debt holdings partly because banks demanded additional collateral to cover its trading positions, according to the WSJ.
The International Monetary Fund warned in October that hedge funds could deepen market crashes by dumping the same investments simultaneously, driving prices lower, and potentially spreading losses to major banks.
Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterms. Some Democratic candidates had campaigned for tighter restrictions on AI data centers, fueling investor fears that the election results could obstruct President Donald Trump’s AI expansion plans. Technology stocks plunged on Thursday, sending Nasdaq down 5.5% and wiping out roughly $2.5 trillion in market value.
Tech stocks were rallying somewhat on in early trading on Friday.
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