Traditional strategies boost hedge funds

• HF在今年有個很好的開始 , 主要來自市場逐現的復甦環境及回歸傳統的投資策略. 如:今年L/S和Arbitrage策略都有很好的表現. 此外新興市場及固定收益套利策略亦表現優異.
• 而這些同時也驗證當市場上的參與者變少時, 機會就變多了.

From FT.com:

Hedge funds have made the best start to a year in a decade as markets recover and the industry moves back to traditional investment strategies.

The average hedge fund has had its best first seven months since 1999, according to the HFN aggregate index of hedge funds, which has risen 12.14 per cent in the year to date.

The Credit Suisse/Tremont index of the hedge fund universe, which will report its July numbers this month, is expected to be up 9.69 per cent for the seven months. Several of the world’s biggest funds have reported stellar returns over the past seven months – including many of those that had a particularly difficult 2008.

...
GLG, another blue-chip London fund that was hit hard last year when its hedge fund assets under management more than halved, is also doing well.

GLG’s global mining fund, run by Tim Medland, was up close to 30 per cent, making it one of the top global equity hedge fund performers.GLG’s loan fund is up more than 30 per cent.

The industry is also seeing a “back to the future” trend, say big investors now looking to allocate, as traditional strategies such as arbitrage and equity long-short make a comeback.

....
Emerging market and fixed-income arbitrage strategies – which bet on relative changes in value between bonds – have also done well.

“The crisis has thinned the players in the markets – both funds and banks – considerably,” said one London-based credit hedge fund manager. “The result is that there are fewer crowded trades and almost any arb strategy can now outperform.”

The worst-performing strategy so far this year, however, has been that most commonly associated with the industry in the public imagination: dedicated short selling.

The strategy had a dreadful July as equities rallied, with the average dedicated short bias fund losing 8.32 per cent, according to HFN...