Van Global Hedge Fund Index Posts Loss For April

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

10 May 2004

According to a preliminary report released last week by hedge fund advisory firm Van, the Van Global Hedge Fund Index fell by 0.8% in April, marking the first monthly decline in the index since February 2003.

Nevertheless, despite the negative return, the Van index still managed to outperform the major US equity indices, including the S&P 500 which lost 1.6% last month, and the Nasdaq which fell 3.7%.

Year to date, hedge funds in the Van Global index remained in positive territory, up 2.5%, also eclipsing most of the major equity markets such as the Nasdaq, which declined 4%.

Unusually, one of the worst performing strategies in the index was Emerging Markets which has been a consistently high performer in recent months, returning 0.8% in March and 6.4% for the first quarter of 2004. Funds exposed to commodities were also particularly badly hit, whilst equity long/short strategies returned small losses, the firm reported.

Van is due to release more comprehensive data later in the month.

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