Hedge funds clipped by manic market

If preliminary data on hedge fund redemptions for September are any indication, the $1.9 trillion industry could be scrambling to honor a flood of withdrawal requests at the end of the year. While most data-gatherers are still collecting September performance and redemption information from hedge funds, one early report cited $43 billion worth of withdrawals for last month. The data was provided by TrimTabs Investment Research in Sausalito, Calif. According to published reports, TrimTabs is expecting the withdrawal numbers for October to be even higher as hedge fund performance numbers continue to suffer from the global economic turmoil. Looking out to the end of 2009, the hedge fund industry could see full-year withdrawals in the $150 billion range, according to a report by Financial Times.