The hedge fund industry continued its winning ways in June, returning +0.88 per cent on the month, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions.
This marks the eighth consecutive month of positive results for hedge funds. On a year-to-date basis, the Barclay Hedge Fund Index shows a compounded return of +8.99 per cent.
The majority of the hedge fund sub-sectors were also in positive territory in June. Perhaps the most notable of which was the Technology Index which rebounded emphatically from a modest loss in May with a +4.74 per cent return in June. Among other sectors gaining ground for the month were the Emerging Markets MENA Index (+3.74), Distressed Securities Index (+3.35 per cent), the Emerging Markets Latin American Equities Index (+2.45 per cent), and the Option Strategies Index (+1.92 per cent).
Relative to the best-performing sub-sectors’ gains in June, the losses of the lagging sectors tended to be smaller with the largest dip into the red ink coming from the Emerging Markets Sub Saharan Africa Index’s (-0.92 per cent). Other retreating sub–sectors were the Fixed Income Arbitrage Index (-0.58 per cent), the Event Driven Index (-0.28 per cent) and the Global Macro Index (-0.17 per cent).
Every single hedge fund sector has achieved and maintained a positive return over the year-to-date interval. All hedge fund subsectors continue to be led by the Emerging Markets Eastern European Equities Index up (+19.39 per cent), followed by the Distressed Securities Index (+17.01 per cent), the Emerging Markets MENA Index (+15.06 per cent), the Equity Long Bias Index (+14.71 per cent), and the Technology Index (+11.92 per cent).
“Hopeful economic observations and rosy growth forecasts in June continued to reinforce confidence in the global reopening narrative that has been a primary mover of markets so far in 2021. Notable among them were a Eurozone growth rate not seen in more than 15 years, falling US unemployment claims and a new round of record highs for major equity markets,” says Ben Crawford, Head of Research at BarclayHedge, “Nevertheless, we also see hints that investors, asset managers and policymakers are quietly becoming more circumspect. Whether it be the emergence of new, more contagious and virulent strains of Covid-19, faster-than-expected hardening of US monetary policy or the ‘transitory’ inflationary pressures that stubbornly refuse to normalise, we see the potential for a period of volatility and brinksmanship ahead.”
