Plus: Citadel, D.E. Shaw And The World’s Top 20 Hedge Funds Gained A Record $94 Billion In 2024 |
Good morning,
American retailers are starting the new year strong after U.S. consumers exceeded expectations for holiday retail shopping at the end of 2024.Sales for November and December grew an “unexpectedly high” 4% over 2023, hitting a record $994.1 billion, according to the National Retail Federation—with online and non-store retailers leading the industry. However, NRF’s chief economist says that American consumers “remain budget conscious” entering 2025. U.S. households were $17.9 trillion in debt as of the third quarter of 2024, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Let’s get into the headlines, |
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 | | llustration by yunjia yuan for forbes; photo by Joe Raedle/getty images |
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| In the weeks between President Donald Trump’s election and his inauguration Monday, at least 16 billionaires, officials from eight foreign countries, 14 of Trump's Cabinet picks, 22 governors, eight senators and 65 members of Congress paid a visit to Mar-a-Lago. The president’s Palm Beach resort transformed into a Winter White House, further underscoring how intertwined his administration and business interests remain. Trump issued immediate pardons Monday to all but 14 people convicted of January 6 riot offenses and ordered prosecutors to drop charges against any other defendants—a dramatic move that could wipe away criminal charges for over 1,500 people. The other 14 defendants were issued commutations for time served and will be released from prison, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy. MORE: Trump also signed a number of immigration-related executive orders, including one that attempts to narrow birthright citizenship. The order claims that, starting in 30 days, children born in the U.S. to undocumented or non-permanent immigrants in some cases won’t become citizens—though it is likely to face legal challenges. |
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| | | Citadel, D.E. Shaw And The World’s Top 20 Hedge Funds Gained A Record $94 Billion In 2024 |
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| Hedge funds have lost some of their luster in recent years, with institutions instead pouring money into Wall Street’s newer crazes for dependable returns. But the most successful firms from the old guard are still delivering steady gains for their limited partner investors. The world’s top 20 hedge funds, ranked in order of estimated net gains since inception according to LCH Investments, together produced a record $93.7 billion in gains in 2024. Citadel, D.E. Shaw and Millennium Management remained the top three since inception, and were also the top three performers in 2024, separating themselves further from the rest of the industry. D.E. Shaw’s flagship Composite fund generated a reported 18% net return in 2024, and its Oculus fund focused on macro trading returned 36%. Citadel’s flagship Wellington fund and billionaire Israel Englander’s Millennium each returned 15%. LCH Investments notes that the top 20 managers collectively generated asset-weighted returns of 13.1% last year, trouncing the average hedge fund reflected in the HFRI Asset Weighted Composite Index, which returned a meager 8.3%. “In most cases, these managers have been generating above average performance over several decades, reflecting the persistence of their superior returns,” Rick Sopher, chairman of LCH Investments and CEO of Edmond de Rothschild Capital Holdings, said in a press release. |
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| Average investors in stock index funds might not be that impressed at even the higher end of the figures from the top hedge funds, especially after the S&P 500 gained 23% last year, following a 24% increase in 2023 that also beat most hedge funds. But the most successful hedge funds are built to provide safety even during market downturns. |
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| First Lady Melania Trump on Sunday announced the launch of the “Official Melania Meme” or $MELANIA token that trades on the Solana blockchain platform. Shortly after the meme coin’s launch, the price of the “OFFICIAL TRUMP” token, or $TRUMP—which itself was only launched Friday—tanked nearly 40%. While crypto executives have expressed concern that meme coins could harm the market, President Donald Trump’s inauguration coincided with a new record high price for bitcoin shortly before he was sworn in. |
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| WEALTH + ENTREPRENEURSHIP |
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| Four of the five richest men in the world were in the room while Donald Trump was sworn in as president Monday—with the big-name billionaires who attended worth a collective $1.2 trillion. Elon Musk (No. 1), Jeff Bezos (No. 2) and Mark Zuckerberg (No. 3) were seated in a prime position directly behind Trump, and Bernard Arnault (No. 5) of LVMH also attended with his son Alexandre. |
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| In the veritable graveyard of self-driving vehicle ventures, Aurora Innovation is still alive, still funded, and plans to have its first autonomous semi-truck hauling loads on Texas highways by April. That launch, however, was originally supposed to happen in 2023. Still, investors are eyeing Aurora, the only pure publicly traded U.S. autonomous vehicle stock left, with cautious optimism. After signing an executive order to halt the TikTok ban for 75 days on Monday, President Donald Trump appeared to signal that his decision to impose tariffs against China could be linked to Beijing’s response to a U.S. entity acquiring at least 50% of the social media platform. The president warned that if China blocked the deal, “then that’s a certain hostility and we’ll put tariffs of 25, 30, 50%, even 100%.” |
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| A public interest law firm sued the Trump Administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Monday within moments of Donald Trump being sworn in, alleging the new entity is not following the legal requirements of a federal advisory committee. Trump confirmed in November that DOGE would be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with a mandate to “slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.” MORE: Looking ahead to 2026, former Republican presidential contender Ramaswamy is reportedly planning to run for Ohio’s governor’s seat to replace the current, term-limited Republican Governor Mike DeWine. The billionaire biotech entrepreneur plans to work alongside Musk at DOGE in the meantime. In his final hours as president, Joe Biden issued preemptive pardons to General Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, lawmakers and staffers who served on the House January 6 select committee, as well as five of his immediate family members. Other than his son Hunter, who the former president controversially pardoned last month, Biden’s family members haven’t faced charges. |
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| President Donald Trump said one of his first actions in office will be renaming Denali—the highest peak in North America—to Mount McKinley, the Alaskan mountain’s name prior to 2015. The debate over the name dates back to the early 20th century, when the government officially named the peak Mount McKinley after former President William McKinley, despite the Koyukon Athabascan people who live near the mountain calling it Denali. Alaska’s senators, both Republicans, have opposed bringing back the name of Mount McKinley. |
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Four | Number of planets that should be visible to the naked eye, Venus and Saturn in the southwest, Jupiter high in the southeast and Mars in the east | |
| 45 minutes after sunset | Ideal time to see the “parade,” for about three hours, when Venus and Saturn will set in the west | |
| ‘The “alignment” isn’t special’ | While some online are promoting this as a rare planetary alignment, NASA’s Preston Dyches says that isn’t correct. “Planets always appear along a line in the sky.” |
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| Developing friendships at work can lead to strong collaboration, higher morale and increased job satisfaction. But having a “work best friend” also comes with risks, as close bonds can lead to cliques forming within teams or blurred lines aro |
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