Hedge fund pain

This is a sign of the times in the macro world. Louis Bacon is nonplussed and returning some cash to investors.

 

LONDON -- A hedge fund titan has decided to return a large sum of money to investors, a revealing illustration of how dried-up markets, vicious volatility and a paralysis of ideas all borne of the crisis in Europe have been particularly hard on the traders who swing for the fences on currencies, stocks and bonds all over the world.

Louis M. Bacon, who together with Paul Tudor Jones and George Soros has come to define this style of high-stakes macro investing for more than 20 years, said in a letter to his investors on Wednesday that he would be giving back $2 billion, about one quarter of the size his benchmark Moore Global Investment fund.

He cited 18 months of what he called "disappointing" investment returns -- and a particularly tough second quarter this year when his main fund was down 3.18 percent.