April was the cruelest month for the gold bugs in hedge-fund land, and the proof is just starting to trickle in.
Gold is one of David Einhorn’s top six holdings; the billionaire even stores gold bullion in a secure site in Queens. But the downdraft in gold — which fell 8 percent for the month — put his Greenlight Capital fund in the red, down 0.6 percent. That’s despite solid gains in his top stock positions like General Motors, Cigna and Vodafone. Even Apple — possibly his largest holding — was up 0.38 percent.
Gold has bounced back from its 9 percent drop on April 15, to $1,361 an ounce in New York. It closed yesterday at $1,457.80, still down 13 percent for the year.
Einhorn is the first hedge-fund honcho to report numbers that show the effect of the gold plunge. But others who have had big losses in the precious metal this year include Dan Loeb and John Paulson, who is the top holder of the SPDR Gold Trust, a paper gold fund that fell 7.56 percent last month.