Greenwich-Van Reports Good November For Hedge Funds

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

16 December 2005

The Greenwich-Van Global Hedge Fund Index gained 2.0% in November, while the Greenwich-Van Composite Investable Index gained 1.2%, according to hedge fund index provider Greenwich-Van Advisors, LLC.

“Many hedge fund strategies, with the exception of short sellers and convertible arbitrage managers, posted strong gains in November,” noted Wade McKnight, Vice President of Greenwich-Van. “The GVGHFI has returned 7.0% on a year-to-date basis compared to 5.3% for the MSCI World Equity Index, 4.9% for the S&P 500, 3.9% for the Russell 2000 and 2.6% for the Nasdaq. Only one of the twenty hedge fund indices tracked by Greenwich-Van (Convertible Arbitrage) is negative for the year.”

Futures managers in November led the pack, says Greenwich-Van, returning 5.4%, partially deriving their stellar showing from US dollar strength against European and Asian currencies. Other factors enhancing returns for Futures managers include mounting metals prices, long index positions and rehabilitated strength in the Nikkei.

The Greenwich-Van Aggressive Growth Index posted the second best result in November returning 2.9%. This equity-based index benefited from broad stock market vigor spurred on by expansive economic strength and oversold conditions. Recent economic data reported surging productivity increases coupled with subdued inflation and favorable labor costs, which historically have been consistent with broad equity strength. Additionally, most investors seem to be expecting the typical year-end rally.

The Greenwich-Van Emerging Market Index returned 2.3% in November and is the leading sub-strategy index on a year-to-date basis, returning 12.4%. The past 3 years have been extraordinary for emerging market managers, says Greenwich-Van, due to a very supportive global liquidity environment coupled with low interest rates in the US Many expect volatility to increase which will moderate returns in the near-term.

The Greenwich-Van Global Short Selling Index, which consists of managers with a dedicated short bias, suffered the biggest loss, falling -4.6%, for obvious reasons – rallying equity markets. Short sellers also reported losses from short squeezes.

Greenwich-VAN Advisors, LLC is a global hedge fund index provider that gathers information on hedge funds worldwide. Greenwich-Van bases its work on its pioneering research on hedge funds begun in the early 1990s and by drawing on one of the world’s largest hedge fund databases. The Index represents the average return of hedge funds tracked by Greenwich-Van and serves as one of the hedge fund industry’s longest-running benchmarks of overall performance. Final November returns for the Greenwich-Van Hedge Fund Indices will be calculated at the end of December, after additional funds have submitted their returns to Greenwich-Van.

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