30 June 2025, Global Investment Report

Despite two straight years of 25% returns, the market outpaced the Top 50 hedge funds by just 1 percentage point annually over the trailing five years through 2024. During that time, the Top 50 generated far superior risk-adjusted returns, experiencing half the market’s volatility and delivering nearly twice its Sharpe ratio.

A key underlying issue: three sharp selloffs since the start of 2020 tell investors how volatile the S&P 500 can be, especially now that the world’s largest economy has become a key source of geopolitical, macro, and market uncertainty. These risks spring from the breakdown in the norms and standards of governance across all three branches of the federal government. They are starting to impact the way markets and economies function—here and abroad. Ken Griffin observes, in discussing trade and tariffs, “We’ve devolved into a nonsensical place.” The single most significant force behind this change is contempt for established capitalistic, democratic and diplomatic systems.

This year’s survey investigates how managers in the US and abroad are dealing with this very different world.

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