Monica Fuentes manages global macro strategy for first OBIG hedge fund

Monica Fuentes, a Goldman Sachs alumni who also used to run a $6bn global macro hedge fund at London-based Comac Capital, will now manage O'Brien Investment Group (OBIG)'s first hedge fund. The OBIG Discretionary Global Macro Fund will open to outside investors on 1 July and initially collect up to $100m for its Founders Share Class.

Fuentes, who holds a PhD in economics from Columbia, joined OBIG a year and a half ago to build out its global macro trading team and operations. A futures-only version of the strategy, available in a separately managed account, was launched last month.

The global macro strategy space has been challenging for a while, Fuentes tells Sona Blessing in a podcast. Indeed, The HFRI macro total index only returned 0.88% in the last five years. It is currently up 0.22% YTD and returned 0.72% in the last 12 months.

Before the financial crisis of 2008, she continues, "macro strategies were always able to deliver on their targeted and expected performance. Global macro strategies intend to capture major trends in global equities, fixed income, foreign exchange and commodities. But for the most part, macro strategies have established themselves for capturing momentum, trends, exploring bearish opportunities, and with the managers' ability to deliver oversized returns."

But the performance of global macro funds in the financial crisis period was mixed and their broader performance was disappointing, especially in the context of a pronounced asset reflation.

No pre-determined mindset

"Our view is that macro strategies have tended to define the performance by pursuing a bearish stance," she says. "Our strategy is different. We do not have a pre-determined mindset or strategy and......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.