November marked the global hedge fund industry’s third consecutive month of outflows, with investors pulling an additional USD6.68 billion from funds around the world, according to the November 2018 eVestment Hedge Fund Asset Flows Report.
Year to date (YTD) hedge fund outflows stand at -USD14.77 billion. Through November 59 per cent of hedge fund managers reported outflows for the year in what has been a tough 11 months for hedge fund performance.
Equity funds were a bright spot in the industry for November. Among hedge fund types, Equity funds pulled in an additional +USD3.45 billion in November and among primary strategies Long/Short Equity funds pulled in +USD3.39 billion last month. Equity funds are strongly positive YTD, with an additional +USD9.43 billion being invested with those funds. Long/Short Equity fund flows however are negative for the year, at -USD1.90 billion.
Performance has been rewarded with new assets this year, in spite of the overall performance challenges the industry is facing. For instance, the 10 hedge fund products receiving the most new assets in 2018 have returned nearly 4 per cent so far during the year.
Among hedge fund types, Multi-Asset funds were big asset losers in November at -USD8.29 billion for the month. YTD, these funds have taken a big hit at -USD32.16 billion. However, the segment still has an overall AUM over USD1 trillion, which is about a third of overall hedge fund industry AUM.
Among primary hedge fund strategies, Multi-Strategy, Market Neutral Equity, Distressed, Convertible Arbitrage and MBS Strategies also saw positive asset flows in November, although for most just barely. Multi-Strategy funds were the only funds among these five primary strategies to pull in more than USD1 billion.
Macro funds were the biggest asset losers among primary hedge fund strategies in November at -USD5.68 billion. YTD flows to Macro funds are still positive at +USD2.64 billion.
Funds focused on US investment opportunities were big asset winners in November, pulling in +USD3.68 billion. These funds are also positive YTD at +USD5.93 billion. However, funds focused on Europe and Asia saw negative asset flows for November and YTD.
