Quantitative hedge funds suffered their sharpest daily decline in more than two years ton Wednesday as violent market rotations battered momentum strategies, adding to pressure on systematic managers following last month’s technology sell-off, according to a report by the Financial Times.
The report cites a a Goldman Sachs note circulated to clients as saying that systematic long-short funds were down about 1.4% by early afternoon on Wednesday. That marked their worst daily performance in more than two years, while the bank’s global momentum index moved well beyond its normal historical range.
Momentum strategies, which typically buy securities showing strong performance while shorting weaker ones, were particularly vulnerable as markets rapidly switched between winners and losers.
Morgan Stanley also highlighted the scale of the move, saying it was the first time in at least five years that its pure momentum index had fallen more than 4% on a day when the broader S&P 500 was rising.
The unusually sharp divergence underscores the extent to which market movements have disrupted factor-based strategies in recent weeks.
Wednesday’s volatility came as the US Treasury announced plans to at least double its purchases of longer-dated government debt, seeking to stabilise the Treasury market.
At the same time, Moderna shares surged after the biotechnology company reported positive trial results for an experimental skin-cancer treatment, producing one of the most dramatic individual-stock moves of the session.
The combination of abrupt moves across markets created a particularly difficult environment for systematic strategies, which can be forced to adjust positions when price trends reverse rapidly.
Despite Wednesday’s setback though, Goldman estimated that systematic long-short funds remained up about 1.7% for August at the time of its analysis.
