Nearly all of the hedge fund strategy categories tracked by Dow Jones
are down this year following another rough month in August, when
just
two of the six strategies posted net-of-fees gains.
The only bright lights in August were the merger-arbitrage and event-driven strategies, which gained 1.10% and 0.05%, respectively.
For the year as of August, only the merger-arbitrage strategy (1.62%) has its nose above water. The rest are under water: equity driven (-2.06%); equity market neutral (-2.39%); equity long/short (-2.38%); distressed securities (-7.56%); and convertible arbitrage (-8.44%).
Still, the hedge fund indexes have held up better than most of the major indexes. As of August, the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 index was down 10.30% and the Dow Jones Wilshire Global Index had dropped 14.75%. The Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index was up slightly at 0.38%.
But hedge funds are supposed to make money in all types of weather, so no matter how you slice it they're having a bad year.