A recent report released by the hedge fund index provider
"Positive returns were seen across strategies, led preliminarily by Distressed Securities and Short Selling," said Kevin Campbell, vice president of VAN. "Long/Short Equity funds also performed well, in spite of losses in the U.S. equity markets."
For the sake of comparison, the U.S. equity markets had a poor showing in August with the S&P 500 down by 0.9%, the Dow Jones off by 1.2%, the Nasdaq down by 1.5% and the Russell 2000 off by 1.9%.
Hedge funds saw a favorable comparison to these benchmarks year to date. Through August, the Van Global Hedge Fund Index had a preliminary year-to-date return of 4.3%. A revised August return for the fund index to be released in mid-September will include additional funds, and the final results for August will be computed at the end of September.
VAN calculates hedge fund indices by using performance information obtained from U.S. and offshore hedge funds. A database with over 7,000 funds is used to compile the index.
