Opalesque Industry Update - Despite major declines in the equity markets, hedge funds as a whole held their ground in July, with a 0.01% loss in the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year-to-date, the Index is up 1.06%. “Declines across equity markets in Europe and the US were driven largely by a lack of political will to address the fundamental long term sovereign debt problems on both sides of the Atlantic,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “In spite of wide-spread economic ‘dis-ease’, hedge funds on average were able to break even for the month.” Ten of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices had gains in July. The Barclay Equity Short Bias Index jumped 2.45%, Pacific Rim Equities rose 0.62%, the Global Macro Index was up 0.58%, and Fixed Income Arbitrage gained 0.43%. Source |