Hedge Funds Show Continued Strength against S&P in April; Emerging Markets Funds Have Best Month in Two Years

ATLANTA, May 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- There has been a long active debate over the value of hedge funds given their returns during 2014. But hedge fund managers may be showing their mettle as global financial and geopolitical volatility continues and the hedge fund industry beats popular indexes, according to eVestment's just-released April 2015 Hedge Fund Performance Report.

In April, hedge funds produced an aggregate return of +1.22%, lifting 2015 year-to-date returns to +2.92%, beating the S&P 500 returns of +0.96% in April and +1.93% year to date.

Among hedge fund strategies, some stood out more than others:

• Rebounds in Russia and Brazil helped emerging markets hedge funds post among the strongest returns in April, +6.28%, the strongest returns for this hedge fund segment since March of 2013.
• Large global macro hedge funds (those larger than $1 billion in assets under management), were strong performers in April as well, with returns of +2.15% during the month, bringing their year-to-date returns to +3.50%.
• Credit hedge funds produced strong performance in April of +2.25%, by far these strategies' best month since February 2014.
• Event driven strategies were positive in April, returning +1.35%, bringing year-to-date 2015 returns to +2.33%.
• Distressed hedge fund strategies produced returns of +0.72%, their third consecutive monthly increase.

"It's easy to undervalue the importance of hedge fund strategies and active management in general during the bull market we've enjoyed for the last few years," said Peter Laurelli, eVestment vice president and head of research and author of the new report. "It's when things become less certain and more volatile that hedge funds really show their strength for investors looking to diversify with a variety of investment types as they seek to grow and protect their assets."

There were some weak spots in the hedge fund industry as well.

• Managed futures funds posted their first monthly loss since October 2014, falling -0.67% and ending a five-month string of gains which saw the universe produce cumulative returns of nearly 6%. The declines came as the dominant trends of declining oil prices and United States dollar strength both shifted in April.
• Large managed futures strategies, which have also been virtually the sole beneficiaries of investor interest returning to the segment in Q1 2015, posted large declines in April. Returns from funds with more than $1 billion in AUM were -3.62% in April. This ends a string of eight consecutive months of gains during which large managed futures funds returned an average of +17.89%.

To download a copy of the report, please click here.

About eVestment

eVestment provides a flexible suite of easy-to-use, cloud-based solutions to help the institutional investing community identify and capitalize on global investment trends, better select and monitor investment managers and more successfully enable asset managers to market their funds worldwide. eVestment's mission is to help make smart money smarter. 

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