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FAIRFIELD, Iowa, January 20, 2015 — Hedge funds lost 0.18% in December, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge The Index was up 3.16% in 2014.
“Renewed concerns of a Greek exit from the European Union, plummeting oil prices, and swooning Russian financial markets took a toll on global equity and commodity markets as risk assets staged a broad decline,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Overall, 8 of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices had losses in December. The Emerging Markets Index fell 2.34% in December, Distressed Securities were down 0.70%, Equity Short Bias lost 0.43%, and the Event Driven Index gave up 0.28%.
“Declining commodity prices dealt a particularly heavy blow to emerging market economies that are commodity exporters,” says Waksman.
On the positive side, the Barclay Healthcare & Biotechnology Index continued its strong performance, gaining 3.92% in December. The Multi Strategy Index gained 1.71%, European Equities were up 1.58%, and Technology added 0.87%.
At yearend, the Barclay Hedge Fund Index gained 3.16%, but under performed the MSCI World Index’s 4.9% return. All but two of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices were profitable. Healthcare & Biotechnology led all hedge fund strategies with a 22.64% gain.
“2014 had its share of mid-month price reversals. Although hedge funds were not able to keep up with equity markets when prices suddenly turned upward, they did a good job of protecting the downside on the sharp declines,'’ says Waksman.
Multi Strategy was up 6.11% for the year, Fixed Income Arbitrage gained 5.37%, Equity Market Neutral was up 4.77%, Global Macro gained 4.10%, Equity Long Bias rose 3.28%, and the Equity Long/Short Index was up 3.17%.
For the third year in a row, the Equity Short Bias Index ended up in negative territory, losing 13.98%. Short Bias has suffered losses in five of the last six years.
The Barclay Fund of Funds Index gained 0.06% in December, and was up 2.78% in 2014.
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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 6,200 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Each month Barclay provides updated performance rankings for 38 Hedge Fund categories, 16 CTA categories, and 7 UCITS categories.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms, and private banks worldwide utilize BarclayHedge indices as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.
