Paulson’s 2010 Slump Continues (GLD, BAC, C, AU, HIG, XOM, MYL)

The latest performance figures from John Paulson’s massive $31 billion hedge fund are in, courtesy of the Financial Times, and they aren’t pretty. Paulson & Co., which reaped huge gains betting against the U.S. housing market and financial system in 2008, and continued to post gains during the equity rebound in 2009, now sees its flagship Advantage Plus fund down by more than -11% in 2010. Anonymous investors told the FT that the fund lost -4.3% in August, compared to a -4.7% loss by the S&P 500, and the Recovery fund, which was designed to profit from the expected economic recovery, lost -9.3% for the period.

A look at Paulson’s top-15 U.S.-listed equity picks from across all the firm’s funds, as disclosed in the latest regulatory filings, shows that top bets on the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), banks Bank of America (BAC) and Citigroup (C), and miner Anglogold (AU) were all left unchanged during the second quarter.

Elsewhere, Paulson was upping his stakes in insurer Hartford Financial Services (HIG) and biotech firm Mylan (MYL), while adding a new position in energy giant ExxonMobil (XOM).

It will be interesting to see whether Paulson can stage a turnaround in the remaining months of 2010. Investors can view more stocks that Paulson & Co. has invested in and a chart of their combined performance at tickerspy.com.

Pro portfolio performance is based on institutions’ top-15 holdings as disclosed in quarter-end filings with the SEC. Pro performance does not take into account additional holdings beyond the top 15 nor does it include positions that are not required to be disclosed by the SEC. As such, Pro portfolio performance should be considered an approximation and not a precise record of how an institution has performed over time.

Tags: AU, BAC, C, GLD, HIG, MYL, XOM