Equity L/S, Distressed Securities Pace Dow Benchmarks In March

All six hedge fund strategies tracked by the Dow Jones Hedge Fund Strategy Benchmarks posted positive returns in March, but most trailed the broader markets, which rebounded from late February’s correction.

Equity long/short was the best-performing strategy, Dow Jones Indexes said, with a 1.76% return (4.12% year-to-date), followed by distressed securities at 1.23% (4.29% YTD).

The quarter’s best-performer, merger arbitrage (6.43% YTD), was the month’s worst, adding only 0.2%. By contrast, the Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 1.12% last month (0.64% YTD) and the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 1.11% (1.4% YTD).

March’s other market laggards were equity market-neutral (0.8%, 1.26% YTD), event-driven (0.73%, 3.25% YTD) and convertible arbitrage (0.21%, 1.76% YTD).