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The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index advanced 0.20 per cent in the first half of 2010, while the broader markets had their worst half since 2008.
The S&P 500 Index decreased 7.57 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 6.27 per cent, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 7.05 per cent.
Bonds have advanced, as the Barclays Aggregate Bond Index increased 5.33 per cent year-to-date, due to increases in treasuries, investment grade and high yield bonds.
“Hedge funds experienced their fourth worse six month start since 1987, when Hennessee Group started compiling the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index,” says Charles Gradante,
Frontier Capital Management, a UK-based investment management company, has named Colin Hodges chief executive officer.
Hodges (pictured) previously held the position of chief operating officer.
Michael Azlen, who founded the company in 2004, becomes executive chairman.
Marc Davies has been promoted to the role of head of investments. He will continue to act as portfolio manager on Frontier Capital’s range of multi-asset funds.
The company’s index tracking hedge fund, Frontier Global Hedge, is managed by Alex Gaitan.
With global stock markets ending the first six months of the year on a shaky footing, the second half of the year poses a number of profitable opportunities for hedge fund managers, according to a report by Lipper.
The report says the argument for a double-dip recession fails to consider that the global economy has never recovered enough from the credit crisis to justify talking about a second dip. A sluggish recovery appears to be the more realistic scenario.
According to Lipper, commodity investing will continue offering interesting arbitrage opportunities to lock in profits for both macro and managed futures
The International Securities Lending Association says it is disappointed in Germany’s decision to ban the naked short selling of certain assets, including the prohibition of credit default swaps on government bonds.
Isla’s chief executive Kevin McNulty says short selling is a good thing because it adds liquidity to markets, helps price discovery, and reduces spreads.
“It lends a huge hand in price formation so share prices are more reflective of their actual value and are therefore more valuable to all investors,” he says.
There is a theoretical risk with naked short selling that it can lead to large numbers
Iridium Asset Management has selected LaCrosse Global Fund Services to provide fund administration and operational support for its Iridium Alpha Fund, an Asian equity long/short strategy that invests in commodity-related sectors.
The Iridium Alpha Fund was launched in April 2010 by Jason Wang, a former manager at GLG Partners, Simon Quirke, who helped manage Lionhart Advisors Group’s Asian investments, and Sree Vallipuram, former chief operating officer of a large Asian multi strategy, long/short and macro hedge fund.
The fund intends to capitalise on the global trends of basic resources, investing mainly in Asian markets and securities pertaining to the production
Early estimates indicate the Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index will experience negative performance in June, with a 0.88 per cent decrease for the month.
This brings year-to-date performance to 0.59 per cent.
Global equity markets, as represented by the MSCI World index, fell 3.56 per cent in June and 10.88 per cent in the first half of the year.
Global macro sub-index was one of the positive performers in June, with an estimated increase of 0.53 per cent in June and 4.15 per cent year-to-date. Macro managers have largely avoided market volatility due to their bearish outlooks and
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission has filed an enforcement action charging Phillip Milton of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Gregory Center of McLean, Virginia, William Center of Richmond, Virgina, and their Florida-based company Trade with operating a Ponzi scheme involving approximately USD28m in connection with the Trade commodity pool.
On 22 June, the same day the CFTC complaint was filed under seal in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the court entered an order, also under seal, freezing defendants’ assets and preserving books and records. Both documents were unsealed by the court on 2 July.
As
Societe Generale Securities Services (SGSS) has appointed Olivier Renault as Country Manager for Luxembourg, replacing Michel Becker.
Renault will report to SGSS Executive Management and becomes a member of the Executive Committee of Societe Generale Bank and Trust (SGBT), in charge of Securities Services1.
SGSS in Luxembourg offers its clients international custody, fund administration and fund distribution services, as well as securities lending and borrowing & independent OTC valuation services, an expertise which is increasingly sought after by asset managers in the current financial context. The firm also provides numerous advantages for French investors, enabling them to benefit
Hedge funds concluded the surprisingly volatile first half of 2010 with a decline of 0.81% for the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index, bringing first-half performance to a narrow decline of 0.18%.
After a quiet Q1, volatility increased significantly in Q2 with concerns about sovereign credit risk, currency policy adjustment, economic and energy market impact of the environmental disaster and concerns about slowing growth in both developed and emerging economies contributing to declines in global equity markets, a powerful late-quarter rally in US Treasury bonds and volatile directional moves in currency & commodity markets.
Equity Hedge was the weakest area
The Lyxor Hedge Fund Index was down 0.59% in June, but year-to-date performance as of June 2010 is up 0.09%.
The top performing strategies over the month were Lyxor L/S Equity Short Bias Index (+1.88%), Lyxor Distressed Securities Index (+1.49%) and Lyxor Fixed Income Arbitrage Index (1.27%).
The ‘Lyxor Hedge Indices’ are investable, asset-weighted hedge fund indices. They are based on Lyxor’s hedge fund platform that covers all the major hedge fund strategies and benefits from a high level of transparency and risk control, while ensuring weekly liquidity.
