eVestment’s September and Q3 Hedge Fund Performance report highlights a variety of trends in hedge fund performance from a busy and tumultuous month. According to report author Peter Laurelli, eVestment’s vice president and head of research, these include:
- Hedge funds declined an average of 0.72% in September, but outpaced the S&P during a difficult month. The industry ended Q3 down 0.46%, the industry’s first quarterly decline since Q2 2013, and is up 2.89% through the first nine months of 2014.
- Managed futures strategies have experienced the industry’s largest redemptions in 2014, but group’s performance in September and Q3 puts them among the best performing strategies this year.
- Losses from credit funds in September were highest since October 2008. Though nowhere near the magnitude of the drawdown, losses indicate elevated exposures to Europe and high yield credit globally.
- Activist funds posted declines in September, however several funds had large gains which offset losses from many others. As a result, aggregate losses were more muted than expected given equity market declines. The group remains the best performing strategy of 2014.
- Event-driven funds have taken in more assets than any other strategy in 2014. Though the group declined in September and Q3, YTD they are ahead long/short equity, multi-strategy and both directional and relative value credit strategies.
- EM funds had a very difficult month, led to the downside by funds investing in Brazil, which had their largest losses since September 2011.
