Industry Updates

SEB cautious towards equity long/short in current and future quarters

Friday, December 09, 2011

Tweet
Print
Email
Track Keywords

Opalesque Industry Update - SEB, the Northern European financial group, comments on Hedge Funds in an article called ““Operation Twist” benefiting Relative Value”. Here is an overview:

Hedge fund performance has remained weak, mainly due to the euro zone crisis, but also mixed macro statistics from the United States and fears of a hard landing in China
All major strategies are showing negative results since the beginning of the year, with Macro and CTA performing best in relative terms
SEB continues to have a cautious attitude towards Equity L/S during the current and coming quarters, with market conditions for Equity Long/Short remaining exceptionally difficult
Relative Value managers in fixed income investments performed relatively well in the last quarter. Looking ahead, there will probably be major upturn potential for bonds when there is favourable news about the euro crisis. SEB is therefore positive towards Relative Value during the next quarter
For Event Driven strategies, the third quarter was the worst since the 1998 Asian financial crisis. Even though various companies will probably seek higher revenues through corporate deals during an economic downturn, today’s turbulence in the euro zone are likely to hamper activity in the near future. Event Driven and Distressed are strategies SEB does not recommend at present
On the whole, Macro and CTA were the best-performing strategies during the third quarter, with a downturn of 0.9 per cent. They are viewed by most observers as a tool for portfolio diversification that is expected to perform well when other asset classes are having difficulty. Macro and Trading remain SEB’s first choices among hedge fund strategies in the near future

For a full copy of SEB's recent Investment Outlook: "A global search for return" published in December 2011 please contact: Robert Roessler, direct line: 0203 128 8592, seb@mhpc.com

Article link