Van Global Hedge Fund Index Returns 1.9% In July

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

09 August 2005

The Van Global Hedge Fund Index gained 1.9% net of fees in July according to a preliminary report released today by Van Money Manager Research, LLC, a leading hedge fund index provider.

The Index, a widely cited hedge fund performance benchmark, represents the average return, net of fees, of hedge funds that report to VAN.

"Hedge funds continued their strong string of performance in July," noted Kevin Campbell, Vice President of VAN.

"Positive returns were seen across the spectrum of hedge fund strategies with the exception of Short Selling. Due to the surge in global equity markets, the long-biased, long/short equity managers seem to be the top-performing strategies during the month based on preliminary information," added Mr Campbell.

For comparison purposes, the US equity markets performed well with the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq, and Russell 2000 gaining 3.7%, 3.7%, 6.2%, and 6.3%, respectively. The global equity markets performed equally well with the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Equity Index, the Nikkei 225 and the Dow Jones Europe Stoxx Index gaining 3.4%, 2.7% and 3.7%, respectively.

In this environment, fixed income markets did not perform as well. The Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index declined 0.9%.

For the year to date, hedge funds compare favourably to these benchmarks. The Van Global Hedge Fund Index has a preliminary year-to-date return through July of 3.5% net. Of the indices mentioned above, only the Russell 2000 (4.3%) has beaten the Van Global HFI for the year through July.

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