Hedges continue to best benchmarks

The Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index increased 1.07% in the month of June, beating out the major market benchmarks. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index, the MSCI World Equity Index, the FTSE 100 and the Lehman Brothers Aggregate Bond Index lost 1.66%, 0.9%, 0.2% and 0.3%, respectively. The Greenwich Global Index, which looked at the results of 1,093 hedge funds, posted a 7.98% increase during the first six months of the year, beating out the 6.96% increase notched by the Standard & Poor's 500. Fifteen of the 18 strategies followed by Greenwich were in the black in the month of June. Emerging markets strategies increased 2.67% and is up 13.48% during the first six months for the year. The specialty strategies and short sellers groups rose 1.85% and 3.39%, respectively. Futures strategies also surged up 2.53% due to rising crude oil prices. The special situations, market timing and merger arbitrage strategies fell 0.03%, 0.04% and 0.68%, respectively. Earlier this week, Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc.'s Weighted Composite Index gained 1.11% in June, pushing the index up 7.97% year-to-date. (InvestmentNews, July 10) Meanwhile, New York-based Hennessee Group LLC's Hedge Fund Index rose 0.88% in June and is up 8.71% year-to-date.