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“The hedge fund industry took in $56.6 billion in the 12 months ended in January, a big reversal of the outflow of $12.6 billion in the previous 12-month span,” said Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge.

Industry assets dipped to $2.1 trillion in January from December’s five-year high of $2.2 trillion, according to estimates based on data from 3,362 funds. Assets rose 14% in the past 12 months but were down 13% from the all-time high of $2.4 trillion in June 2008.

The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report noted that the hedge fund industry lost just 0.4% in January, far outperforming the S&P 500, which skidded 3.4%. In the past 12 months, the industry returned 8.2%, while the S&P 500 gained 21.5%.

Equity Long Only hedge funds, which led the industry in the past 12 months with a gain of 17.3%, had a rough January. “Equity Long Only funds had their worst showing in 20 months, losing 3.3% and more than reversing the 2.0% gain in December,” Waksman said.

The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers finds most managers expect gold prices to rise in the next six months, while the share who thinks stocks will outperform bonds and precious metals is below a majority for the first time since August 2013. Managers are equally bullish, bearish, and neutral on the S&P 500 over the next 30 days and similarly split on oil prices over the next six months.

PD