Opalesque Industry Update - Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s weekly report on hedge funds found that long/short hedge funds aggressively bought market exposures to 29% last week, still below 35-40% benchmark. However, the firm writes, macros reduced their long positions in the S&P 500, NASDAQ 100, commodities and 10-year Treasuries. Large speculators bought heating oil into a crowded long. In addition, they aggressively bought the 2-year Treasuries and they also sold gold back into a buy zone. The investable hedge fund composite index was up 0.50% for February as of February 13 2013, compared to a price return of 1.48% for the S&P 500. Equity Long/Short performed the best, up 1.02%. Merger Arbitrage performed the worst and was up 0.13% for the same period. For the full report, please go to BofAML report. Press release bc |