Most major hedge fund indexes moved into positive performance territory in February after negative January returns.
February performance of broad hedge fund indexes was led by Eurekahedge Hedge Fund index, at 2.72%; followed by Greenwich Global Hedge Fund index, 2.2%, HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index, 2.08%; Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund index, 1.61%; and Barclay Hedge Fund index, 1.58%. The HFN Hedge Fund Aggregate performance was 2.93%. Performance of major market indexes in February was -0.6% for the Lehman Aggregate Bond index; -3.5% for the S&P 500 index; and -0.7% for the MSCI World index.
Macro hedge fund strategies continued to benefit from global market volatility and had the best returns in the shortest month of the year with the HFRI Macro (Total) index returning 6.86% and the HFRI Macro: Systematic index, 5.04%.
Returns of most hedge fund indexes and strategies remained flat at best or negative for the year to date, although all beat the performance of major market indexes. For the first two months of the year, Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund index led the pack with a 0.10% return followed by Eurekahedge Hedge Fund index, 0.07%; HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index, -0.48%; and Greenwich Global Hedge Fund index, -0.6%. For the same period, the Lehman Aggregate Bond index returned -1.2%, while the S&P 500 index was -9.05% and the MSCI World index, -8.4%.
