“After an eight percent sell-off in early March, the S&P 500 Index bounced back to gain 17 percent from March 9 to March 31, its largest 3-week rally since 1987,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Overall, 15 of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices gained ground in March. The Barclay Emerging Markets Index jumped 4.74%, Equity Long Bias gained 3.51%, Technology was up 3.20%, Pacific Rim Equities gained 2.65%, Healthcare and Biotechnology rose 2.36%, and Convertible Arbitrage was up 2.25%.
“Emerging market funds did exceptionally well in March, driven by double-digit returns in the equity markets in Brazil, Russia, India and China,” says Waksman.
“With the sudden upturn in equity markets, Equity Long Bias had its strongest one-month performance since gaining 4.72% in January of 2006.”
The Barclay Fund of Funds Index gained 0.23% in March, and is up 0.61% in 2009.
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Sol Waksman is an experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends. For quotes, commentary or background, call 641-472-3456 or email swaksman@barclayhedge.com.
BarclayHedge (formerly The Barclay Group) was founded in 1985 and actively tracks more than 6,000 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs.
Barclay has created and regularly updates 18 proprietary hedge fund indexes and eight managed futures indexes.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide utilize BarclayHedge data as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.