Citadel, the hedge fund giant led by Kenneth C. Griffin, told its investors on Wednesday that its two flagship funds rose 3.4 percent in January, according to a person briefed on the matter. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index declined 3.6 percent in that time.
The month’s performance caps a strong run for the funds, called Kensington and Wellington, which have rebounded after suffering steep losses in the financial crisis. The funds returned 19.4 percent in 2013, a year when the median return of funds that use a similar strategy was 10.62 percent, according to Hedge Fund Intelligence.
Other parts of Citadel also showed strength in January. The fixed-income fund, a relatively new business for the company, dating to 2011, logged a 5 percent return, the person briefed on the matter said.
The equities fund, which started in 2009, defied the broader slump in stocks, returning 2.9 percent in January.
Citadel is one of the most prominent hedge fund companies in the industry, with assets under management of $16 billion. The Kensington and Wellington funds, which use a multistrategy approach, have $8.2 billion in assets under management.
Mr. Griffin, 45, a Wall Street wunderkind who began trading in his Harvard dorm room, is now riding high after a trying period several years ago. He was down 55 percent in 2008, amid the carnage of the crisis, and was forced to hold a rare conference call to explain the difficulties to his noteholders.