Hedge funds best S&P 500 in November

Date: Monday, December 11, 2006
Author: Aaron Siegel, InvestmentNews.com

Hedge funds surpassed the Standard & Poor's 500 in November for the first time since May, in a month that saw a declining dollar, falling bond yields and an up tick in energy prices.

The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index advanced 1.84% for November, putting its gains at 10.06%. The S & P 500 was up 1.65% for the month.

New York-based Hennessee Group LLC said today.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.17% in November and is up 14.04% this year, while the Nasdaq Composite Index is up 2.75% to 10.26% for the year.

Other hedge fund indexes achieved similar numbers.

New York-based Hedgefund.net's HFN Hedge Fund Aggregate Average, an equal weighted average of all single manager hedge funds, was up 2.18% for November and 10.65% for the year.

Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research's HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index is up 2.45% for November to 11.69% for the year.

"There has only been one negative month for the S&P 500 in 2006," said Charles Gradante, managing principal of Hennessee Group LLC.

The last time there was only one negative month for the S&P 500 was in 1995 when the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index advanced 17.70% versus 37.57% for the S&P 500.