May The Best Month Of 08 For Hedge Funds

Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Author: FINalternatives.com

Hedge funds posted their best returns of the year in May, bringing their year-to-date performance into positive ground, the Credit Suisse Index Co. reports.

“The Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index finished up 2% in May, which is the highest monthly return we’ve seen this year,” Oliver Schupp, president of the CS Index Co., said. “Despite tightened credit conditions in the financial sector, hedge funds have continued to generate positive performance across strategies.”

Hedge funds are now up 0.52% on the year, the index shows.

Long/short equity funds led the way, rising 2.91% in May (up 0.86% year-to-date). Emerging markets and event-driven risk arbitrage also had a strong month, returning 2.14% (down 1.99% YTD) and 2.2% (down 1.11% YTD), respectively.

In fact, just one of the dozen strategies and sub-strategies tracked by Credit Suisse was in the red last month: risk arbitrage, down 0.18% (up 3.52% YTD).

Managed futures and global macro funds remain the best-performing strategies on the year. The former is up 9.6% this year after a 1.44% May return, while the latter is up 7.08% after rising 1.8% last month.