The hedge fund industry added assets for the third consecutive month in September, taking in a net USD4.1bn, or 0.2 per cent of assets, according to BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research.
This estimate is based on data from 3,340 funds.
“The hedge fund industry has received USD51.6bn in 2013, which is a huge turnaround from the outflow of USD2.6bn in the same period last year,” says Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. “Industry assets hit a five-year high of USD2.0trn in September.”
The TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report noted that hedge fund assets are up 10.3 per cent in 2013. Nevertheless, they are 17.9 per cent below the all-time peak of USD2.4trn in June 2008.
“Equity long only hedge funds had their best run since January 2012, gaining 5.9 per cent in September and reversing a 1.6 per cent loss in August,” says Waksman.
Equity long bias funds, meanwhile, gained 3.1 per cent in September, reversing a 0.8 per cent loss in August and notching their best gain since July.
Funds of hedge funds gave up USD2.6bn (0.6 per cent of assets) in September, adding to an outflow of USD5.0bn in August. Funds of funds attracted net inflows in just two of the past 24 months.
The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers found that a majority of hedge fund managers were bullish on US stocks for the first time this year in October. While a plurality of managers were neutral on US Treasuries, bearishness on the US Dollar Index rose to a 10-month high.
