Movements in equity, credit and commodity markets all contributed to positive performance for hedge funds in July. The Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index (Broad Index) finished up 2.54% for the month, bringing year to date performance to 9.90%.
A new monthly commentary offers insight into July hedge fund performance. Some key findings from the report include:
-Hedge funds capitalized on a broad set of opportunities across equity, credit, commodity and currency markets in July,
-Directional, relative value and global macro strategies were the strongest performers for the month,
-Convertible Arbitrage added a seventh month of positive monthly performance, posting 5.8% for July and an index-leading 31.1% year-to-date, as the convertible bond market has stabilized and valuations remained attractive overall,
-Long/Short Equity and Emerging Market managers continued to increase their gross and net exposures as fundamentals gained more traction,
-The largest gains in the Event Driven space came from trades in low rated securities that had been severely devalued in 4Q08 and 1Q09,
-Global Macro hedge funds recovered from their negative monthly performance in June. Funds profited from a number of opportunity sets worldwide including de-stocking and re-stocking commodity themes, with many funds investing in base metals in the face of Chinese industrial demand.
L.D.