Hedge funds rose 4.3% in April, according to HedgeFund.net. And year-to-date, they are up 4.5%, compared with a 2.5% decline in the S&P 500 Total Return Index.

In the month, performance gains added $40 billion to hedge funds’ total assets. With redemptions totaling $35.1 billion, total assets under management ended at $1.697 trillion. Outflows certainly have steadied. In January, investors took $166.4 billion with them to the exits. In February, they redeemed $37.5 billion, and in March, $51.7 billion.

Since the third quarter of 2008, redemptions have totaled $815.3 billion, and in that period, performance brought down assets by another $425 billion.

The strongest hedge fund sector in April was global equity, and the only sector to turn negative was commodities.