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Hedge Funds Hold Their Ground in July; Barclay Hedge Fund Index Slips 0.01%

Written by superadmin | Aug 15, 2011 12:00:00 AM

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, August 12, 2011 – Despite major declines in the equity markets, hedge funds as a whole held their ground in July, with a 0.01% loss in the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year-to-date, the Index is up 1.06%.

“Declines across equity markets in Europe and the US were driven largely by a lack of political will to address the fundamental long term sovereign debt problems on both sides of the Atlantic,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

“In spite of wide-spread economic ‘dis-ease’, hedge funds on average were able to break even for the month.”

Ten of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices had gains in July. The Barclay Equity Short Bias Index jumped 2.45%, Pacific Rim Equities rose 0.62%, the Global Macro Index was up 0.58%, and Fixed Income Arbitrage gained 0.43%.

“Contrary to warnings of dire consequences to come, bond markets in the US overcame fears of a credit default and a ratings downgrade to rally strongly into month-end.” says Waksman.

On the losing side, the European Equities Index dropped 1.33%, Technology slid 0.76%, Equity Long Bias was down 0.71%, and the Convertible Arbitrage Index lost 0.52%.

The Barclay Fund of Funds Index gained 0.27% in July, but has lost 0.35% year-to-date.

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Sol Waksman is an experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends. For more commentary or background, call 641-472-3456 or email swaksman@barclayhedge.com.

BarclayHedge was founded in 1985 and actively tracks more than 6,000 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Each month Barclay provides updated performance rankings for 38 Hedge Fund categories and 16 CTA categories.

Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide utilize BarclayHedge indices as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.