Thursday’s headlines: Legendary Louis Bacon shrinks his unprofitable hedge fund

Could it be a sign of the times? Hedge fund rock star Louis M. Bacon announced he would return 25 percent, or $2 billion, to investors in his Moore Capital Management, according to the  New York Times:

The difficulty in finding the right investment strategy has led to one of the worst performance periods of Mr. Bacon’s career, down 2 percent last year and up 0.35 percent through June of this year. That stands in stark contrast to his past successes. Since its inception, Mr. Bacon’s main fund is up 18.3 percent, with some years, like 1990 and 1992, returning 86 and 45 percent.

The root of his decision, he said, was an inability to make a profitable move on the euro crisis. Indeed, the paper notes, no funds have produced a big winner in the most recent crisis, which differs from past recessions when investors like John Paulson made scoring bets on faltering economies, and Bacon told the paper he blames geopolitics.

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Emma Johnson