« Incentive fees may be clue to hedge fund success | Main | Hedge funds look for better Q4 returns »
June 13, 2006
HedgeFund.net releases hedge fund performance estimates for May 2006
Early estimates show the HFN Hedge Fund Aggregate Average, an equal weighted average of all single manager hedge funds in the HedgeFund.net database, was -0.90% in May and is +6.66% year-to-date (YTD). May was the first negative month in the last seven and the Aggregate Average is +10.63% during that time frame. The HedgeFund.net database consists of over 6,100 current hedge funds, fund of funds and CTA's.
Equity markets worldwide sold off in May and as such, strategies highly influenced by equity returns with a long bias shouldered the majority of the losses. The HFN Long Only Average fell -4.66%, one of the few HFN Averages to have a worse month than the S&P 500. The HFN Small Micro Cap Average was -1.16% and the HFN Technology Sector Average fell -3.95%. Alternatively, the HFN Short Bias Average was +3.86%.
Emerging markets experienced a large drawdown in May as well. Three of the four highly regarded BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia and India, were a major reason for the HFN Emerging Markets Average falling -4.35%. Worries that recent commodity price surges may have been abnormally high along with the potential for a Federal Reserve induced US economic slowdown weighed on the outlook and equity markets of these regions. The fourth BRIC nation, China, may have been supported throughout May by attention brought to the now trading Bank of China IPO.
The HFN Energy Sector Average was -2.33% in May and is +9.22% YTD.
Winners for the month were managers whose strategies are inherently dependent on volatility. This includes many arbitrage and option based strategies. The HFN Statistical Arbitrage Average was +2.18%. The HFN Convertible Arbitrage Average was +1.45% and the HFN Options Average was +1.34%
Regionally, the HFN Asia Average was -2.77% in May and +4.25% YTD, significantly lower than the HFN US Average which was -0.60%, but surpassed by the HFN Europe Average which was -3.24%. The worry of a slowdown in consumer spending and the effect it will have on highly dependent Asian exporters weighed heavily on Asian markets and in turn the HFN Asia Average.
-HedgeFund.net-
Posted by su at June 13, 2006 2:55 PM