Some Hedge Fund Strategies Thrive

Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Author: On Wall Street.com

Hedge funds may be coming off their worst first quarter in history, including, surprisingly enough, a poor showing in the energy sector, but not everyone is doing poorly.

Global macro strategies have been thriving, and many fund-of-hedge-fund managers are looking at other strategies like convertible arbitrage, Financial News writes. Global macro strategies trade on macroeconomic trends through liquid assets, including stocks and bonds, commodities and currencies. According to Hedge Fund Research, the strategy is up 10% for the year through May.

Some institutional investors have a problem with the strategy, however.

"It suffers from the perception that the sector is dominated by cowboy attitudes, high fees and unfavorable risk adjusted returns," said Michael Hennessy, managing director of investments for Morgan Creek Capital Management, a fund-of-hedge-funds. "If you are good at finding out who the stronger players are, they tend to be more liquid than other hedge fund strategies."

Commodity trading advisors also performed well this year, rising with oil and agriculture prices.