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FAIRFIELD, Iowa, July 11, 2006 - Hedge fund performance slid another 0.32% in June, following the 1.82% drop in May, according to flash estimates from the Barclay Hedge Fund Index.
"Hedge fund managers faced many of the same problems that hurt their results in May," said Sol Waksman, founder and president of The Barclay Group. "Most hedge funds utilize equity-related strategies, and global equity markets were down again in June."
"The losses are less widespread this month, with 60 percent of hedge funds reporting losses for June, down from 70 percent in May."
In June, 13 of Barclay's 18 hedge fund indexes lost money. The Emerging Markets Index dropped 1.16%, Equity Long Bias fell 0.96%, and Technology was down 0.81%.
"Directional equity strategies were the hardest hit," says Waksman. "But as we would expect, equity short bias and most arbitrage strategies did well."
Equity Market Neutral gained 1.19% in June, Equity Short Bias was up 0.92%, and the Merger Arbitrage Index gained 0.67%.
Despite two months of losses, the Barclay Hedge Fund Index is still up 5.72% for the first six months of 2006.
The strongest performing sectors year-to-date include the Merger Arbitrage Index, up 7.92%; Event-Driven, up 7.84%; Emerging Markets, up 7.55%; and Multi-Strategy, up 7.32%.
The weakest performer year-to-date is the Pacific Rim Equities Index, losing 1.72%.
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 5,500 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.
