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FAIRFIELD, Iowa, April 10, 2006 - Hedge funds gained 1.86% in March, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index.
"Despite recent prognostications of the demise of hedge funds, 2006 has gotten off to the best start since Q1 of 2000, when the Barclay Hedge Fund Index gained 9.65 percent," says Sol Waksman, founder and president of The Barclay Group.
"Six years ago, both the DJIA and the tech-heavy NASDAQ reached all-time highs. Then, as now, hedge fund returns were given a boost by rising equity markets."
Barclay's Emerging Markets Index continued its strong performance, up 9.99% in the first quarter of 2006. Emerging Markets gained 22.15% in 2005.
"Right now, Emerging Markets is the best performing hedge fund sector, gaining close to 108 percent during the past three years," says Waksman. "This demand-driven rally has been fueled by yield-hungry fixed income investors and value equity investors."
"Many of the other top performing sectors have been directional equity strategies."
Overall, 17 of Barclay's 18 hedge fund indexes showed gains in March. Barclay's Equity Long Bias Index rose 2.74%, Technology was up 2.68, Event Driven gained 2.58%, and European Equities gained 2.31%. Only Equity Short Bias lost ground, down 1.79% in March.
Click here to view ten years of Barclay Hedge Fund Index data.
Sol Waksman, an experienced media source, provides perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends. For more commentary, call Sol at 641-472-3456 or email sol@barclayhedge.com.
The Barclay Group, founded in 1985, actively tracks more than 5,300 hedge funds and managed futures programs. Barclay has created and regularly updates 18 proprietary hedge fund indexes and eight managed futures indexes.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide utilize Barclay's indexes as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.
