With Help From China, Asian Hedge Funds Lead YTD Alpha

With the S&P 500 up 0.42% in April, the hedge fund industry notched a slight outperformance, up on average 0.80% on the month, according to Morgan Stanley prime brokerage data. This puts hedge funds up 3.8% year to date by this measure of performance. Year to date the S&P 500 index is up 6.82%.

Equity Long / Short has particularly robust month

Hedge funds were small net sellers of equities in April, a month when the S&P 500 headed lower mid-month, primarily on the back of election concerns in France, then moved higher later in the month when those concerns were lifted.

Within the sellers, Equity Long / Short strategies were generally the...