Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index Posts Largest Gain Since August 2000

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

17 February 2006

The Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index in January racked up its largest one-month gain since August 2000, with strong global equity markets, particularly in emerging economies, helping to boost hedge funds returns.

"Hedge funds continued their strong performance from December into January," observed Oliver Schupp, President of the Credit Suisse Tremont Index LLC and senior member of the Credit Suisse Funds and Alternative Solutions Group.

"The global appetite for risk and strong equity markets pushed the Long/Short sector up 4.18% and the Emerging Markets sector up 5.76% for January 2006," he explained.

Mr Schupp noted that Convertible Arbitrage managers reported gains of 2.75% in January - the strongest in 3 years - as they profited from higher valuations and increased inefficiencies after a year which saw many funds close.

Meanwhile, Event Driven hedge fund managers had one of their strongest months in recent history as they took advantage of a tightened credit spread throughout the month and an increase in announced mergers and acquisitions after the start of the New Year, according to Robert I. Schulman, Chief Executive Officer of Tremont Capital Management, Inc.

Global Macro managers also had a strong start to the year, reporting an average 3.37% gain for January, generating returns through long equity exposure as well as from short positions in European and Japanese bonds," noted Mr Schulman.

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