BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research reported that the hedge fund industry took in US$18.7 billion (0.8% of assets) in April, up from US$10.6 billion (0.5% of assets) in March.
Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge, said: "Hedge funds took in $56.4 billion in the first four months of 2014, more than triple the inflow of $16.9 billion in the same period last year."
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Industry assets climbed to a 5-1/2 year high of US$2.2 trillion in April, according to estimates based on data from 3,369 funds. Assets rose 18% in the past 12 months but were down 9% from the all-time high of US$2.4 trillion in June 2008.
The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report noted that the hedge fund industry earned just 0.01% in April and underperformed the S&P 500, which gained 0.7%. In the past 12 months, the industry returned 7.7%, while the S&P 500 gained 17.9%.
Waksman added: "Funds targeting distressed securities have been standout performers this year. These funds rose 1.1% in April and 5.2% in the first four months of this year, outperforming all other hedge fund strategies."
The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers finds 42% of the hedge fund managers queried were neutral on the S&P 500 over the next 30 days, and the rest were evenly divided between bullish and bearish.
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By GlobalDataMost managers expected emerging and frontier markets to underperform over the next six months, but the majority favoring developed markets dipped to a 15-month low.
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.
