February 2008 Performance Review of the Dow Jones Hedge Fund Strategy Benchmarks

Date: Friday, March 7, 2008
Author: Riskcenter.com

Four of the six hedge fund strategies covered by Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes posted positive returns for the month of February.

Merger Arbitrage and Equity Long/Short were the leaders for the month with net-of-fees gains of 1.95 percent and 1.49 percent, respectively. However, Merger Arbitrage is the only strategy with positive gains for the year, and Equity Long/Short has lost 4.67 percent in the first two months -- the worst so far in 2008. Event Driven and Equity Market Neutral posted returns of 0.86 percent and 0.63 percent, respectively. Convertible Arbitrage posted a loss of -0.02 percent and is down 0.24 percent for the year. Lastly, Distressed Securities continued to decline for the year, losing -0.51 percent in February and bringing its YTD performance to -4.01 percent.

DJHFSB	February 2008	YTD
Convertible Arbitrage	-0.02%	-0.24%
Distressed Securities	-0.51%	-4.01%
Equity Long/Short	1.49%	-4.67%
Equity Market Neutral	0.63%	-0.46%
Event Driven	0.86%	-0.83%
Merger Arbitrage	1.95%	0.44%

Dow Jones Wilshire 5000	-3.01%	-8.89%
Dow Jones Wilshire Global Index	0.48%	-7.85%
Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index	-0.13%	1.56%

On a float-adjusted basis, the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000, the only broad measure of the domestic equity market, returned -3.01 percent (-2.97 percent on a full-cap basis) in February, bringing its YTD performance to -8.89 percent (-8.91 percent on a full-cap basis).

The fixed income asset class, as measured by the Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index returned -0.13 percent this month and its cumulative gain for 2008 stands at 1.56 percent.

Finally, the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Index,the broadest measure of global equity markets, posted a return of 0.48 percent in the second month of 2008 and has a year-to-date loss of -7.85 percent.