New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Preqin’s Q3 2014 hedge fund performance benchmarks reveal that hedge funds are in the red for the quarter, the first negative quarter for the All Regions and Strategies Hedge Funds benchmark since Q2 2012, when concerns surrounding Greece leaving the Eurozone caused equity markets to tumble.

• Q3 2014 was the poorest quarter for hedge funds (-0.36%) since Q2 2012 and saw Preqin’s All Hedge Funds benchmark negative for both July (-0.14%) and September (-1.21%).
• Year-todate returns have now fallen to 3.33%, which compares poorly to the return of 7.77% posted by the industry in the same period in 2013.
• CTAs continued their recovery with their best quarterly performance (+5.52%) since Q4 2010. Six consecutive positive months have grown their return for the year so far to 7.13%.
• Funds of hedge funds have made a positive return on a quarterly basis since Q2 2013, and their 12-month return (+6.24%) is comparable to that of single-manager funds (+7.20%).

August was the only month in the quarter to see all core hedge fund strategies deliver a positive return, with September proving a challenge for long/short funds (-2.06%) in particular. The strategy has delivered a negative return for five of the nine months of the year so far, accumulating 2.99%.

Event driven funds had their poorest quarter (-2.32%) for over two years, though their 12-month return of 7.43% lags only CTAs (+9.60%) in a ranking of core strategies.

A turbulent quarter across all regions globally saw North America and emerging markets-focused funds hit hardest by a negative September across the board. A slow-down in growth for the US equity markets was perhaps reflected in the negative
quarterly return of North America-focused funds (-1.43%), though the region remains the best performer over 12 months (+9.08%).