The Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index finished up 4.1% in May, with nine out of ten sub-strategies posting positive returns.

Key findings from the report include:

Emerging Markets managers, up almost 7% in May, benefited from increased optimism about global growth and rising commodity prices, with Eastern European-focused managers outperforming other regions for the third month in a row.

Convertible Arbitrage funds continue to make a comeback, finishing up 5.8% for the month. In the US, the nearly $6 billion in new convertible bond issuances were met with healthy demand from a spectrum of investors.

Many Long/Short Equity managers increased their net long exposures resulting in a 5.2% return for the month, the highest monthly return for the strategy since June 2000. Some remain cautious that a switch from a government-led recovery to a consumer-led recovery may face hurdles.

The Global Macro sector generated positive returns for a seventh consecutive positive month, finishing up 1.5%. The strategy’s flexibility and tactical trading ability may have helped managers to post positive returns during both up and down equity market environments in 2009.

Full report here (Download), which also includes an overview of May hedge fund performance, in-depth commentary on individual hedge fund sectors and hedge fund return dispersion statistics for each strategy.

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