Said Haidar, the founder of his eponymous macro hedge fund firm, is on track for his best ever year.
His $4.3 billion Haidar Jupiter hedge fund soared about 19% in September, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That lifts his year-to-date returns to 274%, nearly four times the best-ever annual advance for the money manager since he started trading more than two decades ago, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
At the heart of his performance is leveraged rates trading, bets that’s powering the hedge fund industry’s rebound this year as central banks abandon years of easing and start raising interest rates to contain spiraling inflation.
His main trade at least in the last several months had been short wagers on rates as the market tries to find a way for a Federal Reserve pivot which he hasn’t believed will happen anytime soon, one of his investors said. Haidar provided some clues in his letter to investors last month.
“For the last year, investors have been prematurely anticipating an early end to central bank rate hikes, followed by rate cuts almost immediately thereafter,” Haidar wrote in a letter to investors sent in September. “But as inflation globally has proven stickier than originally thought, central banks have become more forceful in countering this narrative.”
He predicted that risk assets will remain under pressure as investors readjust their expectations to be more in line with central bank guidance and monetary policy tightening continues to drain liquidity from markets.
His fund has made most of its money this year from its fixed income and commodities trades, according to the letter.
A London-based spokesman for New York-based Haidar Capital Management declined to comment.
Haidar founded his firm in 1997. He previously worked at Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers.