After a terrible start to the new year, four of the six hedge fund strategies covered by Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes posted positive returns for the month of February.

Merger arbitrage, which so far remains the only strategy with positive gains for the year, and equity long/short were the leaders for the month with net-of-fees gains of 1.95% and 1.49%, respectively.

Event driven and equity market neutral posted returns of 0.86% and 0.63%, respectively, and convertible arbitrage posted a loss of -0.02% and is down 0.24% for the year.

Lastly, distressed securities continued to decline for the year, losing -0.51% in February and bringing their year-to-date performance to -4.01%. But equity long/short continues to hold the distinction of the worst strategy to date losing 4.67% in the first two months.