Industry Updates

HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index down -0.01% in mid-April (+1.65% YTD)

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

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Opalesque Industry Update - Global financial markets posted declines through mid-April, as investors focused on upcoming European elections. Global equity markets declined, led by Italy, the UK and Germany, while US & Asian equities posted moderate declines. Interest rates declined across most regions & maturities, while high yield credit gained. The US Dollar declined against most currencies on lower bond yields, with the largest declines against the British Pound Sterling and Japanese complemented by more moderate declines against the Euro & Swiss Franc. Commodities were also mixed through mid-month, with gains in Gold, Platinum and Cattle offset by declined in Oil, Natural Gas, Copper, Coffee & Wheat.

Hedge funds posted mixed performance through mid-April with the HFRX Absolute Return Index gaining +0.21% while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index was basically unchanged for the period.

HFRX Event Driven Index posted a gain of +0.19% through mid-April from gains in Distressed/Restructuring, Merger Arbitrage and Special Situations equity managers. The HFRX Distressed Index posted a gain of +0.51% for the period from exposure to the U.S. Consumer and Financial sectors. The HFRX Merger Arbitrage Index gained +0.31% for the period with core exposures to Simmons First National Corp/ Southwest Bancorp, Suffolk/People's United Financial, Mars/VCA, JAB/Panera Bread, CenturyLink/Level 3 Communications, LANXESS/Chemtura and Energy Transfer/Sunoco Logistics transactions. The HFRX Special Situations Index posted a gain of +0.08% from core positioning in Actelion, Yahoo, Alibaba, Penn West, ClubCorp, Alere and Reynolds American.

HFRX Relative Value Arbitrage Index posted a gain of +0.12% through mid-April from gains in Convertible Arbitrage, Multi-Strategy and Mortgage Backed strategies. The HFRX Convertible Arbitrage Index gained +0.22% Index from gains in increased volatility and lower yields. The HFRX RV: Multi-Strategy Index gained +0.17% through mid-month from gains in Fixed Income and Mortgage-Backed Securities strategies.

HFRX Equity Hedge Index posted a decline of -0.16% through mid-April as global equity markets posted declines during the period while US growth equities outperformed value. The HFRX Fundamental Growth Index posted a gain of +0.19% from gains in Emerging Asia, MENA and Latin America exposure. The HFRX Market Neutral Index declined -0.43% from declines in mean reverting, factor based strategies and fundamental managers, while the HFRX Fundamental Value Index posted a decline of -0.28% for the period.

HFRX Macro/CTA Index posted a decline of -0.24% through mid-April from declines in systematic trend-following managers, only partially offset by gains in Emerging Markets strategies. Commodities were mixed through mid-month, with gains in Gold, Platinum and Cattle offset by declined in Oil, Natural Gas, Copper, Cocoa, Coffee & Wheat while the USD fell against most major currencies. The HFRX Emerging Markets Index posted a gain of +0.82% from exposure to Emerging Asia, MENA and Latin America.

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