Event-driven hedge funds are back in the black

The Preqin research also reveals the following:

• Long/short hedge funds were the top performing strategy in July, with average net returns of 2.16 percent, but failed to match this in August, posting average net returns of -0.04 percent.
• Commodity trading advisors (CTAs) are now on a 4-month losing streak after posting average net returns of -0.56 percent in August, with year-to-date performance of -2.54 percent.
• Macro strategy funds of hedge funds have year-to-date net returns of 3.45 percent, while macro strategy single-manager hedge funds have only managed net returns of 0.27 percent this year.
• Long/short hedge funds remain the most favored strategy among investors, with 58 percent of investors in August planning to make new investments in long/short funds over the next 12 months.
• Sixteen percent of investors plan to invest in event-driven hedge funds.
• European hedge funds avoided negative returns in August, posting average net returns of 0.19 percent, while North American hedge funds broke even.
• The Asia-Pacific remains the top performing region over the last 12 months, with Asia-Pacific-focused hedge funds producing net returns of 16.64 percent over the past year, despite August returns of -0.33 percent.
• Japanese Yen-denominated hedge funds have produced year-to-date returns of 17.14 percent and have an average net return of 24.79 percent for the past 12 months.