FAIRFIELD, Iowa, November 9, 2017 — Hedge Funds extended their winning streak to 12 months with a 0.96% gain in October, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The index is up 8.31% for the year and has gained 10.40% since the current winning streak began in November 2016.
“Strong global equity markets continued to fuel broad based hedge fund gains,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. Fourteen of Barclay’s 17 hedge fund indices registered positive returns for the month.
“Driven by positive earnings reports, the S&P 500 and NASDAQ both ended the month at new all-time highs. Shinzo Abe’s re–election as Japan’s Prime Minister propelled the Nikkei 225 to its highest level in 20 years.”
Technology extends gains
Technology has been the big gainer year to date with a rise of 21.09% and led all indices last month with a gain of 2.83%. Pacific Rim Equities (2.41%), Equity Long Bias (1.76%) and Global Macro (1.63%) also were strong in October.
Healthcare and Biotechnology, which is the second best performing sector for the year at 15.23%, registered the biggest slide (-1.69) in October. Event Driven (-0.92%) and Distressed Securities (-1.14%) also posted losses for the month.
“Healthcare and Biotechnology has been strong in 2017 but suffered last month as Congress failed in their efforts to ‘repeal and replace’ the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).” according to Waksman. “Pharmaceutical stocks were particularly affected and were a big contributor to the losses.”
In other year to date returns, Emerging Markets follows Technology and Healthcare & Biotechnology with a rise of 14.60% so far in 2017. All of Barclay’s 17 hedge fund indices are profitable through month-end October. The sectors with the smallest gains for the year have been Convertible Arbitrage (3.06%), Equity Market Neutral (2.89%), and Distressed Securities (0.58%).
For a complete table of BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Index and Sub–Index performance for October, click here.
Sol Waksman is the founder and president of BarclayHedge. Waksman is an industry expert and experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends.
BarclayHedge is the global leader in providing independent, research-based information services to the alternative investment industry. Founded in 1985, Barclay currently maintains data on more than 6,600 hedge funds, fund of funds, and CTAs. No one has been in the business of collecting alternative investment data longer than BarclayHedge.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms, and private banks worldwide utilize BarclayHedge indices as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.