New York Sun- Hedge funds’ improved performance in September helped them overcome poor returns in July and August to post an average gain of 2.4% for the third quarter, according to Morningstar Inc.
The strongest returns were for hedge funds investing in emerging-markets stocks, which gained 7.5% in the quarter. In contrast, funds employing corporate-event driven and distressed strategies lagged in the quarter, losing 1.6% and 2.9%, respectively.
Hedge funds on average gained 3.7% in September, trouncing their gain of 0.42% in July and loss of 1.63% in August, the Chicago investment-research firm reported yesterday. Morningstar’s database has about 7,500 hedge funds and funds of hedge funds, and it reported performance based on data from funds that reported returns to the researcher as of October 11.
“August was really a bad month for every hedge fund category and July was pretty bad, though not for all categories, but September’s gains led to a positive third quarter,” a hedge-fund analyst at Morningstar, Nadia Van Dalen, told Dow Jones Newswires.