The hedge fund industry redeemed USD8.9 billion (0.4% of assets) in January, down from December’s outflow of USD28.1 billion (1.1% of assets), which was the largest since April 2009, according to BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research.
“The hedge fund industry has not suffered two consecutive monthly outflows since mid-2012,” says Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. “Hedge funds added USD57.8 billion from February 2014 through January 2015, down 24% from USD75.7 billion in the previous twelve-month span.”
Hedge fund industry assets dipped to a nine-month low of USD2.43 trillion in January, according to BarclayHedge's estimate based on data from 3,547 funds.
The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report noted that the hedge fund industry lost 0.1% in January, outperforming the S&P 500, which fell 3.1%. In the past 12 months, hedge funds returned 3.3%, while the S&P 500 rose 11.9%.
“Fixed Income funds had their best showing in seven months, rising 0.8% in January,” says Waksman. “These funds also had the strongest January inflows at USD2.6 billion.”
The latest TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Sentiment Survey finds that hedge fund managers’ optimism on US stocks faded a bit in February, breaking a four-month streak of increases. Bullishness on the US dollar eased from January’s record high. While managers are less bullish on gold prices, few of them expect crude oil prices to be lower in six months.
