Hedge Funds Redeem $15.2 Billion in January; Highest Outflow Since July 2009; Funds Return 3.2% in January but Under perform S&P 500. Hedge Fund Managers Bullish on S&P 500 in February; According to

“Hedge funds managed a 3.1% return in January after posting losses in seven out of the last eight months of 2011,” said Sol Waksman, founder and President of BarclayHedge.  The benchmark S&P 500 Index returned 4.2% in January after outperforming the hedge fund industry for all of 2011.

“January marked the biggest monthly outflow since July 2009, when hedge funds redeemed $17.7 billion,” said Leon Mirochnik, an analyst at TrimTabs. “The hedge fund industry has experienced net outflows in four out of the last five months.”  Fixed Income, Multi-Strategy, and Merger Arbitrage hedge funds are the only investing strategies that have seen net inflows since September 2011.

Funds of hedge funds underperformed their hedge fund counterparts by 140 bps, returning 1.7% in January. “It seems funds-of-funds managers might have a hard time explaining their layers of fees to their clients, as funds-of-funds have underperformed hedge funds by 200 bps over the past year,” Mirochnik said.

“Multi-Strategy hedge funds pulled in $2.6 billion (1.1% of assets) in January, the heaviest inflow of the strategies we track,” Mirochnik said. “Investors seem to be piling into strategies that can benefit from geopolitical uncertainty around the world.”

Meanwhile, the latest TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers reveals hedge fund managers remain bullish on the prospects of U.S. equities. The survey of 105 hedge fund managers found bullish sentiment on the S&P 500 at 40.0% in February 2012, down from 45.4% in January. Bearish sentiment rose to 30.5% in February from 25.0% in January. Managers were surveyed in the third week of February.

The survey also found that nearly 30.0% of managers believed that U.S. equities would be the top-performing investment over the next three months. Gold came in second at nearly 23.0% and oil received 20.0% of the vote.

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.