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“Equity markets in the US, Europe, and Japan traded lower on the month, giving back some of their Q1 profits,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

“While an economic slowdown in Europe stokes concerns of recession, a growing consensus that quantitative easing in the US is coming to an end confounds investors as to the impact on equity prices.”

In April, 12 of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices had losses. The Technology Index was down 1.59%, Pacific Rim Equities lost 1.55%, and Equity Long Bias gave up 0.79%.

On the positive side, the Barclay Equity Short Bias Index jumped 3.61% in April, the Healthcare & Biotechnology Index gained 0.60%, and Fixed Income Arbitrage was up 0.53%.

“Bond prices rose during the month, as evidenced by a 0.68 percent gain in the J.P. Morgan World Government Bond Index. The US 10-year gained more than two percent,” says Waksman.

Equity Short Bias is still the only losing hedge fund strategy in 2012. The Barclay Equity Short Bias Index was down 13.58% at the end of April.

“The steady rise of the S&P 500 has offered very limited trading opportunities for short sellers in 2012,” says Waksman. “But after three straight months of losses, equity short bias traders did manage to catch a bounce in April.”

The Barclay Fund of Funds Index lost 0.33% in April, but remains up 3.07% year-to-date.

Click here to view five years of Barclay Hedge Fund Index data, or download 14 years of monthly data.

(press release)

BarclayHedge was founded in 1985 and actively tracks more than 6,200 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Each month Barclay provides updated performance rankings for 38 Hedge Fund categories, 16 CTA categories, and 7 UCITS categories.

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