Hedge fund performance was up in the quarter ended Sept. 30 and year-to-date, with the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index returning 2.96% and 4.19% for the three- and nine-month periods, respectively.
By comparison, the index was down 0.6% in the first quarter and up 1.81% in the second quarter, data released Friday by Hedge Fund Research showed.
Hedge funds-of-funds performance also was positive in the quarter ended Sept. 30, with the HFRI Fund of Funds Composite index returning 2.53%, compared to 0.56% for the second quarter and -3.12% in the first quarter. The index is down 0.11% for the first nine months of the year.
“Hedge funds concluded the quarter with strong equity market outperformance in September, expanding the positive performance differential over global equities and narrowing the (year-to-date) differential with U.S. equities,” said Kenneth J. Heinz, HFR's president, in a news release accompanying the firm's data release.
“With equity markets near record highs, expectations for near-term U.S. rate increases and U.S. election uncertainty dominating the coming months, (hedge fund industry) performance, especially in event-driven and equity hedge substrategies, is likely to top equity markets for (year-end) 2016,” Mr. Heinz added.