Brummer Multi-Strategy monthly commentary September 2025

Markets

In September, volatility was the name of the game as a wide mix of macroeconomic data and market trends affected asset classes to varying degrees. The US stock market saw another exceptional month of performance as megacap names in tech, most of all AI, helped drive the largest indices to continued record-highs. The rally broadened across sectors as markets reacted positively to the Fed delivering a rate cut along with more dovish outlooks.

Across the pond, European equities had a more muted month as the respective central banks offered a more hawkish view on rates with British inflation coming in over expectations and ECB President Christine Lagarde indicating that disinflationary efforts have reached their end. Eastwards, Japanese and Chinese equities rallied heavily in the wake of continued AI optimism thanks to their respective holds on advanced electronics and semiconductors. Japanese equities saw their rally further boosted by positive macroeconomic prints such as strong inflation and Bank of Japan policy decisions while Chinese stimulus packages soothed concerns regarding an economic slowdown.

Sovereign bond markets echoed the policy decisions and sentiments of their respective central banks, wherein US treasury yields moved lower following a dovish Fed and rate cut; British Gilt and German Bund yields moving lower on the long-end and climbing on the short-end as a result of higher inflation and hawkish remarks and Japanese bond yields steadily climbing as inflation came in above target. As a result, the US dollar depreciated somewhat against the Euro and the British Pound.

On the commodity side, oil prices fluctuated slightly but didn’t move much on a monthly basis, in spite of OPEC+ announcing an increase in production and concerns over developments in the middle east. Gold prices continued to surge past record highs as investors once more deem it to be a safe asset in turbulent times, with other metals getting a boost from the recent AI optimism. 

Brummer Multi-Strategy

In the wake of recent market developments, BMS enjoyed its strongest month performance-wise YTD with all strategy buckets contributing positively to performance.

Long/short equity was the largest performance driver in September with alpha coming from a multitude of sources. In US TMT, significant alpha was gained on the short side, most notably in commercial services and telecommunications. In absolute terms, the greatest profits were seen in media & entertainment, commercial services as well as semiconductors.  These were lightly offset by long positioning in consumer and financial services. Positioning in global healthcare sectors proved very profitable this month as well, where gains were realised in the pharmaceutical, biotech and life science space in particular, with minor detractors in healthcare equipment. Trading in the listed real estate sector proved less profitable this month, with losses mainly stemming from positioning in middle eastern names.

BMS’s systematic trend bucket also contributed significantly to performance this month, with strong market trends creating favourable conditions. In developed markets, positioning in Asian equity indices and commodities such as gold delivered strong gains for the month which were lightly offset by positioning in fixed income. In alternative markets, profits were wide-reaching across asset classes with fixed income the sole detracting sector, giving back a small portion of last month’s gains. On the positive side, credit positioning proved most profitable, particularly in the high yield space along with equities, currencies and commodities.

In systematic macro, profits were realised in equities and currencies while commodity positioning detracted somewhat.

For discretionary fixed income & macro, gains were realised in all sub-strategies, with the largest gains coming from relative value within both fixed income and macro, but curve trades and inflation also contributed positively.  

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