Hedge funds outperform main equity indexes in 2009

The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index continued to outperform the S&P 500 in 2009 advancing 3.37% in July to take the index to a positive 15.50% year to date (YTD).

The S&P 500 was up 7.41% in July bringing its total to 9.32% YTD. Hedge funds are also beating the Dow Jones Industrial Average which increased 8.58% in July, up 4.50% YTD,

Meanwhile individual strategies performed positively across the board. The Hennessee Long/Short Equity Index gained 2.89% in July (up 13.39% YTD) and the Hennessee Arbitrage/Event Driven Index rose 3.62% in July (up 18.49% YTD).

The Hennessee Distressed Index advanced 5.16% in July, moving to a positive 23.47% YTD. The Hennessee Convertible Arbitrage Index improved 6.21%, up 31.64% for the year.

The Hennessee Merger Arbitrage Index increased 0.27% in July, totaling 5.28% YTD, while the Hennessee Global/Macro Index moved up 4.12% in July, a total of 15.89% for the year.

The Hennessee Macro Index rose 2.67% in July and was up 8.24% for the year.

"Hedge funds underperformed in July, as we would expect, but were able to capture a good portion of the market rally in July," said Lee Hennessee, managing principal of Hennessee Group.

"Managers opened up their net exposures to participate but also benefited from a better than expected earnings season," he noted.