New York (CNNMoney.com) — Hedge fund performance was roughly flat through the third week of July, but a broad market rally in the month’s final week could push returns into the black for the first time since April.<\/p>\n
Hedge funds on average were down 0.28 percent through July 25, according to Merrill Lynch’s hedge fund composite index. Results for the full month are expected on Monday. Those results will include the best weekly returns for the U.S. equity markets in more than a year, as well as this past Monday’s weak session.<\/p>\n
“It was a month of pretty high volatility,” said Larry Smith, chief investment officer Third Wave Global Investors, noting that the equity markets declined in the first half of the month and recovered in the second half.<\/p>\n
“If people were long equities, they probably had a rough couple of weeks and a good second couple of weeks,” said Smith. “They probably ended up being close to flat. Anybody who was on the short side of things was very quick to cover their shorts” as the markets began to rally again, he added.<\/p>\n
Hedge funds are private investment partnerships limited to institutional investors and wealthy individuals. Most hedge fund strategies yielded flat-to-slightly negative returns through the first three weeks of the month.<\/p>\n