Long/Short Equity, Activists Hedge Funds Beat S&P 500 in May

Hedge funds continued to see strong performance in May of 2015, according to the May Hedge Fund Performance Report from eVestment. In May, hedge funds produced aggregate returns of 0.35%, lifting year-to-date returns to +3.36%, compared to YTD returns for the S&P 500 of +3.24%.

A few other interesting points from the new report , according to eVestment Vice President and head of research Peter Laurelli (pictured), include:

· Managed futures funds, which started off 2015 strong, are no longer the leading performers for the year. In May, managed futures hedge funds posted their second consecutive monthly loss, falling -0.23% after a five-month string of positive performance.

· Activist hedge funds, following a difficult start to 2015, are enjoying a four-month stretch of good results and returned +1.12% in May. Year-to-date, activist hedge funds are standing at +3.38%, just slightly ahead of the S&P 500.

· China-focused hedge funds turned in a strong May performance at +3.03%, bringing year-to-date performance to just under 26%.

· Russia-focused funds have been buffeted by volatility related to that county’s geopolitical situation and falling oil prices and were slightly negative in May at -2.12%, while still enjoying year-to-date performance of 25.71%.

· Brazil-focused funds saw negative returns of -5.69% in May and are looking at -13.20% performance year-to-date.

· Global macro funds appeared effected by the pause in currency and commodity trends in May, but were able to remain near flat at +0.05% for May. Large macro funds seemed more nimble at altering positions in the shifting environment and were able to outperform smaller macro funds during the month, +0.17% and -0.01%, respectively.

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