A broad market reversal is battering hedge funds, spoiling the industry’s strongest annual start since the financial crisis.

Many funds that bet on global financial and economic trends run by firms such as Fortress Investment Group and Discovery Capital Management suffered losses in April as they tried to benefit from a constellation of market moves that gained momentum in mid-2014 and were widely expected to continue throughout 2015. They included rising European bond prices, spurred by the European Central Bank's bond-buying program, and falling commodity prices as global growth stalled.