Hedge funds gained 2.02 per cent in October, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
Building on September and October gains, the index is up 7.24 per cent year-to-date, nearly matching the 7.84 per cent gain by the S&P 500 Index.
“Following a rough patch in May and June, hedge funds have gained 7.20 per cent over the past four months,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Over 78 per cent of the funds that have reported returns from January through October are profitable in 2010.”
All but one of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices had gains in October. The Barclay Technology Index gained 3.33 per cent, equity long bias was up 3.11 per cent, emerging markets gained 2.35 per cent, and convertible arbitrage rose 2.32 per cent.
"Global equity prices continued to rally," says Waksman. “Other than Israel and Egypt, all of the equity markets in countries included in the MSCI Developed and Emerging Market Indexes gained ground in October.”
The Equity Short Bias Index lost 0.45 per cent in October, and is down 6.82 per cent through October 2010.
“Equity short bias is the only losing hedge fund category this year,” says Waksman. "After a record 40.91 percent gain in 2008, short bias has proven to be a challenging strategy over the past two years."
The Barclay Fund of Funds Index gained 1.56 per cent in October, and is up 2.88 per cent for the year.
