…even though mathematician James “Jim” Harris Simons, with his investment company Renaissance Technologies, is one of the best known and most renowned hedge fund managers in history. His investment company was founded in 1982 and by 2019 Simons was the second richest hedge fund manager in the world with assets of 19 billion. He relied on complex mathematical models for his sophisticated algorithms. Parallels to chart techniques or fundamental analysis have been observed, but how exactly these algorithms work remains a trade secret. According to the Handelsblatt, the fund uses quantitative strategies and a huge data pool. But even this does not help. Simons’ models and algorithms cannot cope with the crisis.
You can see this from the fact that his flagship fund for equities has been down a full 13.4 percent since the beginning of 2020. At the same time, the US leading index, the S&P 500 Index, rose by more than 3.5 percent.
It is said that many hedge funds find it difficult to make a profit. These include not only Renaissance Technologies. The entire industry suffered a loss. In contrast, the pharmaceutical companies are among the top ten investments, as the ten largest positions in the first quarter include the pharmaceutical companies Bristol Myers Squibb and Novo-Nordisk, as well as the biopharmaceutical company Vertex Pharma, the technology group Verisign and the biotechnology company Biogen. This has been announced on the basis of data from the SEC.
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