NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - Global equity long/short hedge funds erased their gains for the year on Thursday as stocks plunged after the Trump administration announced sweeping tariffs.
The funds showed a 1.7% fall on the day, Goldman Sachs said. As of Thursday, long/short hedge funds were down 1.6% for the year.
The day's losses by the hedge funds, which take long positions in stocks while also betting against others, is the second sharp bump for those funds in a month. They fell 1.5% during the first hours of the day on March 10 after portfolio managers unwounded trades in single stocks as fears mounted that tariffs would send the economy into recession.
Hedge funds had already been turning bearish, with their pessimism hitting a 5-year high this month, a separate Goldman note said last week.
Still, the bank their use of leverage remained high, close to record levels in the past five years.
The tariffs rocked global financial markets on Thursday, with the dollar and U.S. stocks tumbling as investors rushed to safe havens. The
S&P 500 (.SPX), opens new tab was last down 4.16%, while the Nasdaq (.IXIC), opens new tab plunged 5.3%.
Reporting by Carolina Mandl, in New York; Editing by Megan Davies, Chris Reese and Mark Porter
