Distressed and activist strategies lead in August

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Distressed hedge funds have emerged as industry leaders for the year as eVestment summarises performance numbers for the industry in its latest “Hedge Fund Performance Report”. According to the report, hedge funds overall gained 0.18% during the month of August while distressed and activist funds clearly outperformed with gains of 2.18% and 1.95% respectively. Year-to-date, distressed strategies have significantly outperformed the aggregate index with gains of 8.06% as compared to a gain of 3.47% for the industry as a whole.

The corresponding numbers for the Nordic Hedge Index is +1.89% for the year and an estimated -0.11% for August.

According to the eVestment report, distressed strategies have benefited from the rebound within energy sector credits while Macro and Managed Futures suffered the highest concentration of losses in August. In a comment on the recent weak returns for Managed Futures strategies, eVestment writes:

“Two months removed from their post-BREXIT superb returns, managed futures funds were negative for the fourth time in six months.”

Despite showing lackluster returns as of late, Managed Futures has received more new money than any other primary hedge fund strategy in 2016, 16.2 billion USD through July, according to the report.

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