Reuters – Quadrangle Equity Investors, a hedge fund that concentrates on media and communications stocks, will wind down its business after losses and investor redemptions, according to people familiar with the situation.

The relatively small fund employs fewer than a half dozen people, but it is part of Steve Rattner’s prominent Quadrangle Group LLC and so is well-known in media circles.

Quadrangle Equity, like other funds investing in media, has struggled as media stock prices have been hit hard by an advertising downturn and worries that consumers will sharply curtail spending on entertainment.

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Times Online – Jon Wood, the ballsy and opportunistic hedge fund manager who wagered that there was value in Northern Rock even as the bank was collapsing last autumn, has reportedly lost 85 per cent of his investors’ money.

He is not the only hedgie to be wrong-footed by events. Traders who bet that the crude oil price would continue to strengthen, or that the feeble dollar would continue to weaken, have also lost their shirts in recent weeks.

July was a lousy month for hedge fund returns and August is shaping up as not much better. Most funds are well down in the year to date.

True, mainstream equity investors are no better off. True, too, hedge funds have come through similarly sticky patches before now and still achieved respectable medium-term returns. But this is not a great advertisement for an industry that purports to make money whatever markets are doing.

Making generalisations about hedge funds, however, is rarely a good idea. It is too broad a church.

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CNNMoney.com- An equity investors study by Greenwich Associates showed trading volume generated by hedge funds surpassed mutual funds last year and now ranks second only to traditional asset-management shops.

The financial-consulting firm said the influence of hedge funds as a way of generating equity trading has helped Merrill Lynch & Co. (MER) and other firms " solidify" their standing as top U.S. brokers in terms of market share.

"Although the second half of 2007 was something of a wild ride, hedge-fund performance for the year was relatively strong, and from a U.S. equity trading perspective, hedge funds were extremely active," said Greenwich consultant John Feng.

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