The Greenwich-Van Global Hedge Fund Index gained 2% in November and is up 7% for the year through Nov. 30, according to hedge fund index provider Greenwich-Van Advisors LLC.
"Many hedge fund strategies, with the exception of short sellers and convertible arbitrage managers, posted strong gains" last month, Wade McKnight, a vice president of the Greenwich, Conn., index firm, said in a statement Wednesday. By comparison, the MSCI World Equity Index was up 5.3% for the year, the S&P 500 4.9%, the Russell 2000 3.9%, and the Nasdaq 2.6%.
Futures managers led the hedge fund industry last month, returning 5.4%, partially on U.S. dollar strength against European and Asian currencies.
The Greenwich-Van Aggressive Growth Index posted the second-best November result, returning 2.9%. This equity-based index benefited from broad stock market vigor spurred on by economic strength and an oversold market, the index firm said.
The firm's Emerging Market Index returned 2.3% in November and is the leading substrategy index on a year-to-date basis, returning 12.4%.
And the firm's Global Short Selling Index, which consists of managers with a dedicated short bias, suffered the biggest loss, falling 4.6% as equity markets rallied. Short sellers also reported losses from short squeezes.
