NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com)–Hedge fund managers active in directional and event-driven strategies led the S&P Hedge Fund Index to post a gain of 0.72% for October.
The gain signals a slight comeback for the index, which has been posting small gains over the last three months after a slump earlier in the year. Still, the hedge fund tracker is up only 1.15% for the year through October.
"A broad-based U.S. market, led by mid-cap growth stocks, helped produce strong performance among U.S. managers," said Charles Davidson, senior hedge fund specialist at Standard & Poor's, in a statement. European managers generally were hurt by their net long exposure to natural resources, according to Mr. Davidson.
For those focused on long/short equity, managed futures and macro strategies the markets worked in their favor. The S&P Directional/Tactical Index, which is made up of those strategies, reported a gain of 1.45% last month. The weakening U.S. dollar against the Swiss franc, Japanese yen and the euro might have helped macro managers and others in the index.
Rising crude oil and natural gas prices undoubtedly were a boon to managed futures managers, with the S&P Managed Futures Index returning 5.56% for the month and 0.27% for the year, topping the overall sub-indexes. The directional/tactical index is still in negative territory for the year, down 1.11%.
