| 12.06.2012 TrimTabs and BarclayHedge report hedge funds redeemed $5.1 Billion in April 2012 |
| Opalesque Industry Update - BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research reported today that the hedge fund industry redeemed $5.1 billion (0.3% of assets) in April, reversing a $2.8 billion inflow in March. Based on data from 3,042 funds, the April TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report estimated that industry assets stood at $1.7 trillion in April, up 1.6% for the first four months of 2012. TrimTabs and BarclayHedge reported that more than $12.7 billion flowed out of the hedge fund industry between May 2011 and April 2012. There were net outflows in six of the 12 months. �That�s a sharp contrast from the previous 12 months, when the industry saw a net inflow of $90.7 billion and just three monthly outflows,� said Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. Hedge funds lost 0.59% in April, besting the S&P 500�s April loss of 0.75%, but the industry trailed the popular financial industry benchmark for the first four months of 2012, returning 5.0% vs. a 11.2% gain for S&P 500, TrimTabs and BarclayHedge reported. �April�s results marked the first time in six months that the industry outperformed the S&P 500,� Waksman said. Over the past 12 months, Fixed Income, Multi-Strategy and Macro funds represented the most popular strategies of hedge fund investors, attracting the largest cash inflows among 13 fund categories tracked by TrimTabs and BarclayHedge. �With interest rates near zero and central bankers flooding the markets with liquidity, Fixed-Income investors are chasing any yield they can get,� said Charles Biderman, founder and CEO of TrimTabs. Emerging Market and Equity Long Bias funds posted the highest outflows over the same time period. Meanwhile, the May 2012 TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers found that 35.6% of managers were bearish on the S&P 500 for June, while 30.5% were bullish, and 33.9% were neutral. Conducted in late May, the survey of 120 hedge fund managers found bearishness on the S&P 500 at a six-month high and bullishness at an eight-month low. In the survey, bullish sentiment on the U.S. Dollar Index surged to 61.9% in May from 35.4 in April, a 15-month high. �Managers are responding to seemingly never-ending anxiety over Eurozone sovereign debt, which is punishing the euro and bolstering demand for the greenback,� said Leon Mirochnik, a financial analyst at TrimTabs. When asked about the likelihood of the Federal Reserve launching another round of quantitative easing this year, over 28% of managers saw more than a 60% chance of that happening, while over 47% of managers saw less than a 40% likelihood. Press release bc |