Hedge funds gained 2.02% in October according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
Building on September and October gains, the Index is up 7.24% year-to-date, nearly matching the 7.84% gain by the S&P 500 Index.
“Following a rough patch in May and June, hedge funds have gained 7.20 percent over the past four months,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Over 78% of the funds that have reported returns from January through October are profitable in 2010.”
All but one of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices had gains in October. The Barclay Technology Index gained 3.33%, Equity Long Bias was up 3.11%, Emerging Markets gained 2.35%, and Convertible Arbitrage rose 2.32%.
“Global equity prices continued to rally,” says Waksman. “Other than Israel and Egypt, all of the equity markets in countries included in the MSCI Developed and Emerging Market Indexes gained ground in October.”
The Equity Short Bias Index lost 0.45% in October, and is down 6.82% through October 2010.
“Equity Short Bias is the only losing hedge fund category this year,” says Waksman. “After a record 40.91% gain in 2008, Short Bias has proven to be a challenging strategy over the past two years.”
The Barclay Fund of Funds Index gained 1.56% in October, and is up 2.88% for the year.
D.C.