“After months of outflows across nearly every hedge fund category, November saw outflows in only two investment styles: Emerging Markets, which shed $1.3 billion, and Equity Long-Short, which shed $1.0 billion,” says Sol Waksman, founder and President of BarclayHedge.
“November’s numbers are significantly better than October’s, when only five out of the 14 strategies we track showed any inflow and the rest were in the red,” said Leon Mirochnik, analyst at TrimTabs. Heaviest inflows for November were Multi-Strategy at $1.5 billion (5.75% of assets) and Macro at $981 million (8.5% of assets).
Meanwhile, The latest TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers reveals growing numbers of fund managers are becoming more bullish and less bearish on U.S. equities. Bullish sentiment on the S&P 500 stands at 42% in December, the second-highest reading this year. Bearish sentiment dropped to 30%, the lowest reading since July 2011, from 36% in November. Managers were markedly bullish in only three months of 2011: January, July, and December.
The survey of 101 hedge fund managers also reveals that the managers are divided on whether the Fed will begin another round of quantitative easing in 2012. Most believe unemployment will be below 8.5% by the end of the year, and they expect value investing to be more profitable than growth investing. While a third expect gold to be the best-performing commodity of 2012, more than half expect oil or natural gas to come out on top.
The TrimTabs/BarclayHedge database tracks hedge fund flows on a monthly basis. The TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report provides detailed analysis of these flows as well as relevant topical studies. Click here for further information.
BarclayHedge is a leading hedge fund data vendor and one of the foremost sources for proprietary research in the field of alternative investments. From its origin as a research specialist and performance measurement firm, BarclayHedge has developed complete client services as a publisher, database and software provider, and industry consultant.
TrimTabs Investment Research is the only independent research service that publishes detailed daily coverage of U.S. stock market liquidity--including mutual fund flows and exchange-traded fund flows--as well as weekly withheld income and employment tax collections. Founded by Charles Biderman, TrimTabs has provided institutional investors with trading strategies since 1990. For more information, please visit us here.