New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Hedge funds posted their highest return in February since January 2012, supported by rising equity and commodity markets. Hedge funds are outpacing the S&P by nearly 100 basis points in 2014, according to the February 2014 February Global Hedge Fund Performance report from eVestment.
“Activist strategies are again at the top of hedge fund industry performance in 2014. The group followed a good showing in a declining market in January with the best of any primary strategy returns in February.” eVestment said.
Other highlights include:
• Distressed funds posted their best returns in more than two years, since January 2012, and the broad event driven category has rewarded investors in 2014. Event driven strategies received the second highest level of new allocations to begin 2014, behind directional equity, and have returned 3.4% in the first two months.
• Macro strategies were positive in February, offsetting January’s losses and bringing the group into positive territory for the year. Smaller managers were primarily to blame for macro funds’ aggregate returns lagging the industry during the month. Average returns from macro strategies with greater than $1 billion in AUM was 3.2% in February, actually near the top of the industry.
• Managed futures strategies appeared able to take advantage of strong upward price moves in commodities markets in February. The group’s returns were their best since mid-2012. Negative returns from FX funds were not enough to hold the group down significantly, further indicating strong positive exposures to physical commodities across the group in February.
• Investors’ worries over China’s growth entering 2014 has hurt China-focused hedge funds for the second month in a row. Both China and Japan funds were among the industry leaders in 2013, but sit in negative territory this year.
A bright spot in 2014 for emerging markets exposure has been Africa & the Middle East. The universe was among the industry’s best in 2013 and has begun 2014 in the same position, eVesment concluded.
Alex Akesson
Editor for HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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