Opalesque Industry Update - Global financial markets extended gains through February led by gains in the US as the Trump growth agenda developed, including expectations for infrastructure spending, lower taxes and higher interest rates. US equities led broad based global gains, with leadership from Technology, Healthcare, Financials and Telecom; European and Asian equities also gained. US interest rates posted modest increases across most maturities as the US Dollar gained against the Euro, Swiss Franc and British Pound Sterling; European yields rose led by increases in UK, France and Germany. Metal led commodity gains for February, led by Gold, Silver, Aluminum and Platinum; Oil & Cattle also gained while Natural Gas and Coffee posted sharp declines. Hedge funds posted gains for February with the HFRX Market Directional Index rising +1.87% and the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index gaining +1.12% for the month. HFRX Event Driven Index posted a gain of +1.55% for February from gains in Distressed/Restructuring and Special Situations equity managers. The HFRX Distressed Index gained +2.19% for the month from exposure to the U.S. Energy, Financial and Consumer sectors. The HFRX Special Situations Index posted gain of +1.42% from core positioning in Actelion, Yahoo, Alibaba, ClubCorp, Alere and Reynolds American. The HFRX Merger Arbitrage Index was basically unchanged for the period with core exposures to FNB/Yadkin Financial, Suffolk/People's United Financial and Energy Transfer/Sunoco Logistics transactions. HFRX Equity Hedge Index posted a gain of +1.17% for February as global equity markets rallied during the month. The HFRX Fundamental Growth Index posted a gain of +2.36% from gains in Global Healthcare, Emerging Asia, Europe and MENA exposure. The HFRX Fundamental Value Index posted a gain of +0.77% from exposure to US large-cap in the Financial, Technology and Consumer sectors. The HFRX Market Neutral Index was basically unchanged from mixed performance of mean reverting, factor based strategies and fundamental managers. HFRX Macro/CTA Index posted a gain of +1.18% for February from gains in systematic trend-following managers. The HFRX Systematic Diversified/CTA Index gained +2.63% as Precious Metals rose, Rubber, Cocoa and Coffee declined while the USD rose against the Euro, Swiss Franc and British Pound . The HFX Emerging Markets Index posted a gain of +0.52% from exposure to Emerging Asia, MENA and Latin America. HFRX Relative Value Arbitrage Index posted a gain of +0.62% for February from gains in Convertible and Fixed Income strategies. The HFRX Convertible Arbitrage Index gained +1.58% for the month as yields posted modest gains while volatility declined. The HFRX Fixed Income - Credit and Index HFRX RV: Multi-Strategy Index gained +0.77% and +0.51%, respectively, as yields rose modestly. |
Industry Updates
HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index gains 1.12% in February (+1.63% YTD)
Friday, March 03, 2017
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