The Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index is up 10.53% year-to-date despite falling 1.61% in November, and the index continues to outpace equities for the month and year. 

The Directional Trading Group, buoyed by futures strategies’ positive performance, fell slightly by 0.12% (+9.38% YTD). The Market Neutral Group dropped 1.15% but is up 7.74% for the year. The Specialty Strategies Group was affected by weak emerging market manager performance (-1.94% in November), but remains up 16.46% YTD. The Long-Short Equity Group lost 2.34% (+10.78% YTD) despite the rally of +7.14% for dedicated short sellers.

In comparison, all four equity indices were down by more than 4% in November: the S&P 500, MSCI World Equity, and FTSE 100 Indices posted -4.18% (+6.23% YTD), -4.24% (+7.97% YTD), and -4.30% (+3.41% YTD), respectively.

“Hedge funds’ performance, which was less severe than that felt by the equity markets, highlights their unique ability to limit the downside,” said Ben Rossman, senior vice President at Greenwich Alternative Investments.