Hedge funds in August were revving up on five of six cylinders that make up the Dow Jones Hedge Fund Strategy Benchmarks. Equity Long/short was the biggest mover for the month, pumping up 1.9%, which still left it at only 1.8% year-to-date but taking it out of negative territory for the first eight months of the year. Convertible arbitrage zoomed 1.4% in August and is the second-best performing DJ Benchmark strategy YTD with 8.1%. The top performer so far this year is distressed securities, which inched up only +0.5% for August, but a respectable 8.4% YTD. Of the remaining benchmarks, merger arbitrage added 0.2% (6.0% YTD) and equity market neutral, the only loser in the bunch, was down -0.5% (4.4% YTD). Figures are based on charts published in The Wall Street Journal; other monthly results will be arriving within the next week.
