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.
Most 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.
