Industry assets fell by more than $1 trillion in 2008

Date: Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Author: Alistair Barr, Market Watch.com

Outflows of $512 billion last year were driven by investor redemptions and hedge fund liquidations, while losses suffered by managers accounted for another $535 billion drop in assets. That left industry assets down $1.047 trillion, or 36%, to $1.84 trillion, for the whole year, HedgeFund.net said.

Hedge funds tracked by the New York-based firm lost a record 15.27% on average last year. However, managers returned 1.11% on average in December, providing some hope.

"Poor industry performance in September, October and November was likely exacerbated by liquidations and redemption requests and positive performance in December may be an indication that the biggest wave of investor outflows has past," HedgeFund.net said in a statement.