Jul 12, 2019 - Economy

Hedge funds have their best first half since 2009

Data: eVestment; Table: Axios Visuals
Data: eVestment; Table: Axios Visuals

Hedge funds delivered their first-half best performance in a decade, rising more than 7% overall, according to data from eVestment. The industry also saw gains in June after a downturn in May when investors sold losing funds and bought winners.

Between the lines: Hedge fund divergence continued with long/short, equity, and event-driven funds delivering the best returns so far this year, while FX, commodity and fixed-income funds barely had positive returns.

  • "Ken Griffin, who runs the $30 billion hedge-fund firm Citadel, is beating his largest rivals, gaining 13.6% in the first six months of the year in his flagship funds," Bloomberg's Katia Porzecanski reports.

Yes, but: The strong year-to-date performance still lagged the S&P 500 by more than 10%, and hedge funds were outgained by 4% by what eVestment described as a "global balanced benchmark" of 50% global stocks and 50% global bonds.

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