Hedge funds in August were firing on four of six cylinders that make up the Dow Joes Hedge Fund Strategy Benchmarks. Equity long/short was the biggest mover for the month, pumping up 2.7%, which still left it at only 2.6% year to date but taking it out of negative territory for the first eight months of the year. Convertible arbitrage zoomed 1.5% in August and is the second-best performing DJ Benchmark strategy YTD with 8.2%. Top performer so far this year is distressed securities, which inched up only +0.7% for August, but a respectable 8.6% YTD. Of the remaining benchmarks, merger arbitrage and equity market neutral were flat, 5.8% and 4.9% YTD, respectively. Figures are based on charts published in The Wall Street Journal; other monthly results will be arriving shortly.
