The hedge fund industry redeemed USD29.1 billion (1.2% of assets) in December, its largest outflow since April 2009, according to BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research.
“Hedge funds shed USD12.5 billion in the second half of 2014, a sharp turnabout from the inflow of USD87.5 billion in the first half,” says Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. “The industry’s inflow of USD75.3 billion for the whole year was little changed from last year’s inflow of USD76.4 billion."
Hedge fund industry assets edged lower to USD2.48 trillion in December from USD2.50 trillion the month before, according to the latest estimate based on data from 3,544 funds.
The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report noted that the hedge fund industry lost 0.4% in December, matching the S&P 500’s performance. In the past 12 months, hedge funds returned 2.9%, while the S&P 500 rose 11.4%.
“All but two fund categories suffered outflows in December,” says Waksman. “The exceptions were Equity Market Neutral funds, which took in USD450 million, and Equity Long Only funds, which took in USD250 million."
The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers finds that hedge fund managers’ bullishness on US stocks hit a 15-month high in January. Most of the managers surveyed see better days ahead for the petroleum markets, as only 21% expect lower crude oil prices in six months. Bullishness on the US dollar is the highest in the four-year history of the survey.
