New York (HedgeCo.Net) – BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research report that hedge funds received only $250 million and that inflows had slowed dramatically so far in the second half of the year, according to Barclay Hedge and TrimTabs investment Research.

BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research reported today that the hedge fund industry took in $250 million (0.01% of assets) in October, recovering from outflows of $6.8 billion (0.2% of assets) in September.
“Hedge fund inflows have slowed dramatically in the second half of this year,” said Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. “Inflows since July have averaged $2.9 billion monthly, down from $13.8 billion monthly in the first half of 2014.”

Industry assets stood at $2.37 trillion in October, down slightly from September’s six-year high of $2.38 trillion, according to estimates based on data from 3,500 funds. Assets climbed 15.8% in the past 12 months and are just 2.9% below the all-time high of $2.44 trillion in June 2008.

The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report noted that the hedge fund industry lost 0.3% in October, improving on September’s loss of 1.3% but underperforming the S&P 500, which gained 2.4%.

“Equity Long Bias funds performed best in October, gaining 0.4%, while Emerging Markets funds had the strongest inflows at $2.6 billion,” said Waksman.
The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers finds that hedge fund managers’ optimism on U.S. stocks hit the highest level this year in November, while bearish sentiment fell to a seven-month low.

Bearish sentiment on the U.S. Dollar Index dropped to the lowest level since January 2011. Sentiment on 10-year U.S. Treasuries remained mostly neutral.