Millennium, Point72 Post Double-Digit Gains in First Half as Hedge Funds Rebound from Iran War Shock
Taylor Wilson
Millennium gained 10.5% and Point72 14.5% in the first half, as multi-strategy hedge funds staged a sharp recovery from the Q1 rout triggered by the Israel-U.S. strike on Iran — but whether the rebound holds depends on the macro road ahead.
Who made the most in the first half?
Point72 rose 14.5% year-to-date through June 25, with a 3.4% gain in June alone — the strongest of the three top funds.
Millennium Management gained 10.5% in the first half, including a 4.1% June surge; it manages roughly $89 billion, the largest of the trio.
Schonfeld's flagship fund returned 8.4%, a more modest gain on about $22 billion in assets.
What went wrong in Q1?
The Israel-U.S. military strike on Iran sent oil prices sharply higher, forcing a sweeping repricing of inflation and interest-rate expectations.
This means → multi-strategy funds holding positions in bonds and currencies got caught on the wrong side — their bets pointed one way while the market moved the other.
According to HFR, the hedge-fund industry lost an average of 2.8% in March. In plain terms = nearly the entire industry stumbled in the same month.
What drove the comeback in Q2?
A strong equity rally after the Q1 sell-off became the main engine of performance recovery.
Multi-strategy funds — firms that run dozens or even hundreds of trading teams simultaneously — can reposition quickly when a clear directional trend emerges.
This reflects the core edge of the multi-strategy model: cut losses fast, chase rebounds hard, and stay more nimble than single-strategy peers.
Can the gains last into the second half?
Whether the rebound extends depends on how the macro environment evolves — the Iran situation, oil prices, and the Fed's rate path are all open variables.
This means → the gains so far are best read as "filling the Q1 hole and then some," not as risk-free steady growth.
All three firms declined to comment, leaving the market to reverse-engineer their strategy shifts from the performance numbers alone.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.