April was a volatile period as Sino-US trade tensions ramped up at the beginning of the month.  This led to a sharp drop in the equity markets in the first few trading days of April, which also led to factor reversals.  However, markets settled in the latter half of April as hopes emerged for negotiation talks between the China and the US.

Goku’s strategies weathered the volatility well, with the market neutral (Cayman) strategy gaining 1.7% for the month.  The vast majority of the gains were driven by idiosyncratic (residual) risk while factor exposure drove positive attribution as well.  What continues to  be pleasing is that our single stock short book continues to outperform.

Although we are encouraged by the incremental alpha we have generated from the single stock short portfolio in recent months, we continue to improve operational execution.  We will be adding additional brokers starting in May which will further expand our available short inventory.  Better execution will further improve risk adjusted returns.